Maiden Of The Mist
by MichelleRabbit
Summary: "Can a rougue ever go back to a normal life?" "I'm not sure, I never really tried before..." Follow Megumi as she tries to survive for her loved ones and find herself in the procress. Will she find peace or go insane trying? SasukexOc Sasukeoc Sasuke OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was like any other day in the Hidden Mist Village; dreary, cloudy, full of mist. Despite what it what the weather was like though, there was someone who could look past it. Megumi, being only seven, would look at life as if every day were different. The only complaint she had about life so far was the fact that she wasn't allowed to venture into the village with her mother or father when they went. Instead, they lived outside of the village; close enough to be considered villagers, but far enough to maintain their distance and privacy.

As she sat in front of some puddles left from the regular moisture and rain while tracing the rim of her glass of water she couldn't help but think: '_I'm bored…'_ She was still a child and as such she needed constant stimulation, unfortunately for her, her best and only friend came in the form of sixteen year old Chunnin Ren Koroba and he was off on some errand for the Mizukage himself.

While still tracing the rim of her cup of water she thought back to how she met him.

"Megumi" Her father called in her thoughts. "I'd like you to meet the newest member of the team I'm captain for," He explained. "Ren, I'd like you to meet my daughter Megumi."

"Well aren't you something, the perfect picture of your mother" Stated Ren while looking up at Megumi's proud mother. "Same brown hair, same tan complexion, even the same smile, the only thing I see you inherited from your father seems to be your brown _eyes._" It was obvious to even Megumi that he was trying to win her parents favor. Her father brushed it aside as mere nerves but, he didn't know if he imagined it or not, he felt that Ren's comment about their eyes had a deeper meaning.

While she was thinking about this she couldn't help but blush. How could anyone resist the charms of the pale young man. Despite being the only boy she had ever seen she found herself drawn to his crystal green eyes and his sun-kissed hair. It helped that after that first meeting he continued to visit just to keep her company and as time would tell, they became each other's closest friends.

She looked down at her cup and gasped. Her water was spinning into a whirlpool! She should have been more frightened but she wasn't. '_Now I won't be bored' _She thought as she giggled. She kept playing with the water, raising her hands and moving them randomly to create more figures with her new found ability.

"Megumi! Where are you?" called her mother.

"Coming mommy!" She answered. As excited as she was she focused on the glass of water to make sure she didn't spill any on her favorite navy shirt and pink shorts. "Mommy, Daddy, look at what I can do!" She boasted. She was so focused on controlling the water, that she didn't notice her parents nervous looks.

"We knew this was coming, we have to tell her." Whispered her mother.

"Tell me what mommy?"

"Dear, let's go to your room you might need to sleep after this." Her father explained.

….

So she had a Kekei Genkai; a family inherited ability in her eyes and chakra that enabled her to control all forms of water. That explained why they lived so far from the village and why she wasn't aloud near others except those truly worthy of their parents trust. She was so excited about this new form of entertainment when she was by herself but it was soon taken from her because she was immediately forbidden to use this talent in front of anybody.

"Boo!"

"Aih!" She turned to look at the reason for her distress and found Ren laughing at her for the strange noise she produced. After recovering from her false heart attack, she tackled Ren in happiness but only managed to be caught by him.

"Ren! You're back, finally!"

"You know I wouldn't forget about you, so how have you been, squirt?"

"Don't call me squirt! You're only 1…2...3…8 years older than me." She said after counting her fingers. "Anyway I'm a lot better now that you're here, how come you didn't come sooner?"

"Sorry, but the Mizukage has been making me run all over this village doing some errands for him."

"What kind of errands?"

"….." He paused, "All I can say is that I'm looking for some very special and talented people for him to meet."

Megumi's eyes lit up that point thinking it was for a prize or something along those lines. "Talented! I have a talent!"

He laughed as he heard her say this. "You do? And what might that talent be?"

"I can't tell you, only absolutely trustworthy people can and mommy and daddy said that was just them."

"Aww, but I thought we were best friends" Ren jokingly pouted, Megumi didn't catch the sarcasm and only blushed under the fifteen year olds gaze.

"um…we are, but…"

"I guess we aren't if you don't want to tell me." He knew he had the seven year old when he saw her desperate look.

"O-ok, but you can't tell anyone, promise." She demanded.

Thinking it was a small talent he promised without a single thought.

...

She was sad. After she had shown Ren her talent using the mist and turning it into snow and making it dance, her favorite trick she learned from being alone all the time, all he did was look at her with a strange serious look and then told he had to be going to report back to the Mizukage.

"He must hate me." She cried as she plopped onto her bed and wept herself to sleep.

*_Boom! Crash!*_ She woke up to the sound of furniture falling and glass braking. "Oh no" She gasped as she heard her mother's yell.

Walking down the hallway, she couldn't help but jump every time she heard something heavy make a loud noise falling. As she got even closer to front area of her small home she could hear the distinct sounds of kunai knives clashing in the deep of the night.

One figure looked to be a Jonin level ninja but had a smaller frame compared to most matured ninjas she had heard about, all she could really see were slightly familiar eyes.

"Daddy?"

"Megu- Agh!" He could barely get her name out as a kunai knife was stabbed deeply into his chest.

"As the new captain of this squad and in the name of the Mizukage I shall eliminate you as I did your wife for treason and for hiding a user of your family's Kekei Genkai instead of turning it in to be properly dealt with." As he said this he thrust the kunai even deeper into Megumi's father. All that could be heard afterwards were his garbled and struggling breaths before he went still.

"Ah!…daddy!...no…no…" She could only whimper at the sight of her father and at the thought of her mother in the next room.

"Now to deal with you, squirt."

She looked up at the sound of her nickname that had only been spoken by one person before.

"Ren?"

"The one and only."

"W-why did you d-do this!" She struggled to yell.

"….. Because you're a monster." She gasped when he appeared in front of her. "Do you know what it would mean for me if I killed you right now?" She shook her head no while tears fell from her eyes. "It would mean I could be next in being Mizukage, I would be Lord Mizukage's most trusted guard, and I already surpassed your father by just rounding up other freaks like you. The mere thought of just having to kill you to gain my success makes feel all giddy inside." He laughed crazily with his words.

As he spoke, she could feel the growing hatred inside and could feel her trembling hands going out of control. "You bastard!" She growled.

"You shouldn't be speaking like that, guess your parents were more useless than I thought."

"GRRRR!" Suddenly feeling the massive surge of chakra, Ren dodged out of the way in time to see three blood spikes stick to the wall and turn back into a liquid state. He quickly had to backflip to avoid more spikes this time made out of water and blood. All Ren could do was weave and dodge out of the path of the spikes and decided to leave in order to save himself from the nonstop attack.

"You won't be so lucky later, Megumi. I will get you." He promised while dodging as he disappeared into the misty night.

All that could be heard was her haggard breaths and whimpers, and because of her loss of control and lack of chakra left in her system, she passed out, hoping for her death. The last thing she saw was Ren's sun-kissed hair messy and stained with her parent's blood.

...

As fate would have it, she woke up the next morning feeling completely hollow inside. Why couldn't she have been with her mother and father in death? Why did destiny feel it necessary to further joke with her by letting her live? She walked out of the house in her favorite clothes stained with blood after lying in it the whole night. She moved towards the village deciding that one more homeless child wouldn't be treated any differently than others.

She didn't have time to look around the village she once dreamed of exploring, so she kept her head down and stayed hidden in an alley and cried as it started to snow. She was all alone.

It had been three months since the event had happened and Megumi had already settled into a nice box she found behind a home's trash area and was trying to sleep but her tears wouldn't let her.

"Hellooo?" She heard someone say in a singsongy voice as they knocked on her head.

"Huh?" She was very confused as she looked up into the face of a very pretty girl a little older than her.

"Are you ok? You look like a lost puppy." Megumi couldn't help but whimper more at the statement. All of a sudden she felt the girl petting her. "There, there, it's ok. Hey! We have the same eyes. I think my master would like to meet you, he can take care of you like he took care of me, ok?" The decision was made before she could even get a word in and all she could politely ask was:

"W-what's your name miss?"

She gave her a confused look, "Haku, and I'm not a miss I'm a boy."

**AN:**

**Hello, this is my very first attempt at Fanfiction and I really wanted this chapter to be more like an introduction really to my own character, Megumi, and to set the mood for what I have instore for everyone. As a fair warning there will be one more planned OC for the forseable future, so... Also I was really inspired by a story I read for the Walking Dead and how the OC was seamlessly added into the story without really changing it snd still keeping it interesting so I will be attempting that.**

**I would really appreciate constructive critisism though and some tips and tricks so please Review, but also be gentle. Like I said, I'm a newbie, there is only so much I can take T_T**

**-Michelle**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_Dear Diary,_

_ It's been five years since I was saved from the hardships of the Mist. In this time I've managed to become a part of a new family. Our master, Zabuza Momochi, might seem a little rough around the edges but I feel like deep down in his heart he really does care about us. Another part of the family is Yuki, I don't think he likes me very much but then again I did make fun of his name although it does suit him with his beautiful chin length white hair and sky blue eyes, I hate my plain brown hair, anyway, he always seems to try to get me hurt or embarrass me while we train. Despite this though, I still care about him, like a brother I never had and always wanted. Last but not least is Haku, he's my savior and the one I'm closest to. Maybe it's because I'm the youngest, although Yuki is only a year older than me, but I feel like Haku is very protective over me. I wish he wasn't, I can hold my own perfectly fine. Our last and biggest mission yet as rouges should be proof enough._

_ It was simple in writing: "_Assassinate the Mizukage", _it was actually harder than I thought. The lower level guards were easy to get rid of but his closest guard was really the challenge. Yuki and I were supposed to take care of him while Haku and Zabuza went ahead with the main task. I remember thinking how thankful I was to have found a skilled user and family member to teach me how to use our Kekkei Genkai. If it weren't for that I probably wouldn't be here._

_ Ren wouldn't have wanted me to live._

_ I remember how I beat him too. It was thanks to Haku again. What would I do without him? Yuki was knocked out after a hard kick to the head and I was being held in choke hold and a kunai knife to my neck and him laughing at me for "trying to be a rouge ninja". I used one hand to make enough seals to control the water to create a barely visible dagger that with enough force silenced him instantly as it went through his throat. I guess I wanted him to shut up._

_ We had to retreat after Haku and Zabuza barely grazed the Mizukage, the mission was a failure but we still celebrated for at least getting that far. It was nice, just the four of us but I still cried myself to sleep. I finally avenge my parents and unknown family members and for what? A hollow feeling inside because of what he said. He couldn't just die in peace; he had to say something through his broken vocal cords to make me suffer even now. Ren had to say that I really was his best frie-_

"Megumi!" Zabuza yelled.

"C-coming" She hastily hid her diary and ran downstairs to see Zabuza, Haku, and Yuki fully clothed in their gear. "What's going on guys?"

"We have a new employer by the name of Gato. He wants us to get rid of some bridge builder."

"That seems a little tedious, don't you think?"

Yuki scoffed, "If you'd let Zabuza finish maybe you wouldn't have these questions."

Haku stepped in at that point, "That's enough, Yuki."

"I don't see why you always have to defend her Haku, if she really is so tough why not let her show it?" Yuki continued. Megumi wanted to say she could but her nerves got the better of her and looked down to the ground disappointed in herself.

Zabuza sighed at the look she had on her face, "Alright, Megumi is right," Yuki couldn't help his next scoff. "but for the money he's offering we can't afford to reject this job either, which is why we're letting two other missing ninja take care of it for a small percentage of the money; The Demon brothers should have no trouble. Haku, Yuki is right too, you shouldn't have to go out of your way to protect Megumi, she can take care of herself."

Haku couldn't take Yuki's smug look anymore, "I don't care, and I promise right now that I will always protect Megumi no matter what the cost."

"Always the hero Haku," Megumi didn't know why Yuki acted this way, but despite his personality she he still cared for the team.

"Alright, stay in the tree house. In a few hours Gato will be here to either reward us or reprimand us. For the sake of the Demon Brother, let's make sure it's to reward us."

…

A while afterwards they heard that they would be joined by their employer in the tree house hideout.

"The three of you will have to change into jonin uniforms to better conceal your identities since he only knows about me, so go." Explained Zabuza.

They nodded in understanding and went to their rooms. As she walked back into the room she heard approaching footsteps and quickly kneeled down with Haku and Yuki next to Zabuza. As the door opened they saw two men in suits walk in, one tall with sunglasses while the other was short and had rounded sunglasses and crazy hair, Megumi assumed this was Gato. He immediately started yelling.

"You failed. You failed! What is this, amateur night? I put out big money for you! I thought you were supposed to be hot shot assassins!" He yelled. The others could see Zabuza was losing his patience quicker than usual and knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with his calm façade.

"Stop whining." He growled as he pulled out his executioner's blade and pointed it at Gato. Megumi couldn't help but smirk, _'Finally, I was getting tired of him already.' _"This time, I'll go personally and this sword will be the last thing he ever sees."

Gato struggled with his nerves, "You sure about that, apparently Tazuna has a high level ninja guarding him and since your first attempt failed he'll be expecting you back and he'll be waiting, watching, it'll take someone with very advanced skills."

Zabuza growled angrily, "Who do you think you're dealing with? I am Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist."

"Tch, just make sure you don't screw up again, you hear me!" Yelled Gato as he regained his confidence.

"Loud and clear, now get out."

Gato faltered at being ordered to leave. "Y-you're lucky you're the best around here or I wouldn't take that attitude at all. Do your job." And without a single word of goodbye, Gato left.

Zabuza didn't look amused "Hn, what a prick." Megumi shook her head, he always had to get the last word in.

"Zabuza, are you sure we should be doing this?" She stated timidly, she could feel the eyes of her teammates and immediately regretted her comment as she saw the tip of Zabuza's sword now pointed at her.

"Are you sure you should be asking those questions? Shut up and let me handle this alright! Now stand up and get ready, we might as well get this over with." They stood up and were about to leave when he called Megumi back. As she waited for his next move, she didn't even feel the pain until after Zabuza had pinned her to the wall by the neck.

"What do you think you're doing questioning my plans? Well?" He pressed her harder against the wall as she struggled against him.

She felt tears in her eyes. "I-I-I'm sorry," She gasped. "I don't tru-trust him." She struggled to breath as he dropped her none to gently to the ground.

"You don't have to worry yourself over MY plans, Megumi. Just do as your told, now get out of my sight, you look pathetic." He sounded so cold, but she knew it was due to the stress of the situation and silently forgave him as she stumbled to her room.

…..

"Here's the plan and I'm only saying it once so pay attention." Explained Zabuza.

They had arrived to the land of waves and were in a secluded area waiting for their pray. They had each brought their hunter ninja masks to better hide themselves and to have an alibi in case they were caught separately. Megumi couldn't help but feel giddy inside, she had been waiting for another opportunity to show her skills and improvement.

"I will attack head on, test their limits and abilities and look for weakness. If they prove to be no real threat I'll deal with them, if they prove to live up to my expectations or go beyond, Haku will act as a Hunter-ninja and deal with me for our escape. Got it?"

Yuki waited for more but blew up when nothing else was said. "Wait a minute, what about us! Don't we get to help?" He yelled

Zabuza sighed as he knew there would have been an argument. "No, not this time. Take it as a punishment for acting like immature brats lately. You will be hidden in the forest wherever you think you can get the most information as reconnaissance. It's an information gathering technique anyway so the less people there are involved the better chance for success. Get in your places, I think they're coming now."

As Megumi hid in high up tree she looked down at the strange looking group. They looked to be hopeless ninjas, the shockingly pink girl had her eyes glued to the dark haired boy who seemed to miles away, and the blonde seemed to just look at the dark haired boy in disdain. She knew better than anyone though to never judge on looks alone. All of a sudden the blonde ran ahead and was looking around. She gasped as he looked in her direction and threw a kunai knife in her direction. '_Was I spotted?' _His teammates also seemed to be in shock as they all held their breaths.

After a pause the blonde looked up nonchalantly. "It was just a mouse."

They immediately looked angry as the pink haired girl broke the silence. "Mouse? Yeah right, everyone can see through your stupid act. You're so obvious it's embarrassing!"

Their sensei looked more worried than anything. "Naruto, those are kunai knives they're dangerous."

The most angry of all of them was the old man they seemed to be protecting. "Stop Trying to scare me you scruffy little twerp!" He was ignored as the boy, Naruto, continued to "look" for followers.

Megumi's eyes were wide in shock, '_This guy is an absolute idiot_.'

"Hey hey, what's that over there!" Stated Naruto as he threw another kunai. '_This is funnier than I expected_.' Giggled Megumi as she watched an argument between blonde and pink.

"That's it Naruto!" The girl yelled as she hit the back of his head.

"Wha-why did you do that, someone really is following us I mean it." He whined.

"Yeah right, quit lying and acting like a dumb kid!"

Meanwhile Yuki was looking on from his safe spot as he watched the sensei look over his rabbit while his students fought like morons. '_Looks like he knows about my rabbit, he must know we're around them now. C'mon Zabuza, now's your chance_.' He thought.

Zabuza was looking from his vantage point and saw the opening as well. '_No wonder the Demon Brothers failed their mission. The Copy Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Kakashi of the Sharigan.'_

Haku, Yuki, and Megumi looked on as Zabuza made himself known by throwing his executioner blade at the bridge builder and then landing on it when it lodges onto a nearby tree after they had all ducked.

She faintly heard the older ninja as he muttered. "This must be…"

** AN:**

**Part Deux, Please Review!**

**-Michelle**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Well well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Megumi wasn't surprised that the older ninja knew about him. '_It shows how good he really is, c'mon Zabuza you can take them easily.' _She encouraged in her mind.

She looked on with a smile as she saw the boy Naruto ready for an attack. It quickly fell as the Jonin stopped him "You're in the way get back." He stated

Naruto looked confused and annoyed, "But why?"

"He's not like those other ninja; he's in a whole other league. He's our opponent, I'll need this." Yuki and Megumi looked on in anticipation with the genin ninja as their sensei readied to reveal his eye. Yuki couldn't believe what he was watching, '_Could this be…_'

Zabuza satiated everyone's curiosity by revealing who this man really was, "Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye, did I get that right?" Yuki was as shocked as the others. '_If this really is Kakashi Hatake, then Haku might have to step in. Just from the sheer power radiating from him tells us he's in the same league as Zabuza.'_

Megumi was only mildly deterred but was more curious about the dark haired boy. '_Judging by his shirts symbol he's an Uchiha. So this is Sasuke, the last living Uchiha, at least the last one with a good reputation…' _She blushed at her next thought. '_He is kinda cute though, I can't think that! I might have to kill him.' _She argued with herself. As she argued with herself she saw a leaf fall from a tree a few meters away from herself, then she saw a second follow it. '_That's the signal.' _She let her own leaf fall as Haku, Yuki, and she got ready to roll in a soft mist for Zabuza but they had to wait for the right time.

Zabuza continued his taunts, "It's too bad huh? But you'll have to hand over the old man." They all waited in anticipation of the next move. More leaves fell as Megumi and her teammates gathered enough chakra to make a natural looking mist.

"Now quick! Manji formation, protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight." Kakashi ordered, his team looked confused though. "I taught you teamwork, now it's time to use it." He raised the rest of his headband to reveal the Sharingan. "I'm ready."

Even Zabuza looked a bit impressed by it, "Well looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action, this is an honor."

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. "Everyone keeps saying Sharingan, Sharingan, will someone please tell me what Sharingan is?" Sasuke began to describe what the Sharingan is but left out the fact that it's a family trait that only runs in his own clan of the Uchiha. Zabuza continued to describe it further while Haku had let the last leaf fall to signal that they should begin to release the lesser form of the Hidden in the Mist technique. Haku looked around to see if anyone noticed anything about their work but saw that they brushed it aside as a natural mist. '_Good, so this is how it begins' _He thought with a smile behind his mask as he heard Zabuza continue.

"As for you Jonin, the Assassination Unit of the Hidden Mist, we had a standing order to kill you on sight. Your profile was in our Bingo book, it called you the man who copied over a thousand jutsu, Kakashi the Copy Ninja."

Megumi was surprised when she heard the girl speak. "What? Is Kakashi sensei really such a famous ninja?" '_How does she not know about him? I guess Kakashi didn't want them to, but why?_' Her thoughts were interrupted by her master.

"Enough talk, I need to exterminate the old man. Now!" The team quickly got in formation with Kakashi in front of them. "So, I'll have to eliminate you first, ey Kakashi so be it." Megumi and Yuki then knew that a battle was about to start and that their jobs as reconnaissance was about to begin. '_Humph, I could have easily taken on those Genins. I'll show you someday Zabuza, I'll show you that you can trust me like you do Haku.'_ Yuki couldn't help but be angry; he knew that he could have helped in fighting rather than spying.

Zabuza quickly moved to stand on the water holding a hand sign. Kakashi was confused as to what he was doing '_He's building a huge amount of chakra._' Haku on the other hand knew exactly what he was doing. '_The ninja art, hidden mist jutsu.' _As Kakashi spoke more about Zabuza's history, Megumi and Yuki went to Haku's location to plan their next move.

Megumi was actually worried about Zabuza. "When are we going to move out? I think we have enough information to plan a counterattack or ambush." She stated worriedly.

"For once, I agree Megumi on this Haku. We should just go before one of us gets hurt." Yuki would usually want to jump into the action, but knew better after seeing who their opponent was.

Haku was still wearing his mask silently before he finally spoke. "The problem is how do we get to him? Originally I was going to act as a mist ninja and arrest him, but I might have to hurt him in order to save him now."

They just stared at each other contemplating their choices before they silently agreed to let the battle play out. When they got back to their separate hiding spots, Megumi gasped, their mist had been dispelled and there was Zabuza with a kunai to his neck "Now it's over…" As she heard Kakashi say this and the rest of his team starting to cheer she got out a kunai getting ready to step in. "Zabuza…" She muttered, as she was about to step forward she felt someone grab her arm. "Yuki…"

"C'mon, we have to go."

"B-but what abo-" He cut her off with a sharp pull.

"Don't argue, Haku told me to get you and leave so let's go." She looked back nervously back at the scene.

"But Haku said -"

"I know what he said and what we agreed to but he changed his mind and we have to follow his orders." Megumi didn't like leaving them but knew he was right.

"Alright."

…

"Will you stop already? They're going to be fine." Yuki was trying to make her feel better but only ended up sounding mad. He couldn't help it though; he was a little worried too. What would he do without them? '_I guess we could just move on, but how would we survive? We don't even exist without the Demon of the Mist.'_

"Yuki."

"Huh?"He looked up and saw Megumi's tear filled eyes, he didn't know why he did it but he stood up and took hold of Megumi in his arms. "Don't worry, even if something were to happen, we still have each other alright." He felt her nod in the crook of his neck and only held her tighter. '_I guess I do really care about her, maybe we are a family.' _He heard slow approaching footsteps and quickly let go of Megumi nervously. "See, th-that must be them coming." He stuttered as he went towards the door.

She couldn't believe he had tried to make her feel better; perhaps he was finally warming up to her. "Z-Zabuza!" Megumi ran towards the door as she heard Yuki and immediately stopped cold at the scene in front of her. Zabuza was struggling to stand while Haku was his main form of support.

After they had moved him to his bed Megumi quickly asked what happened.

"They were better than I thought, Kakashi got out of my prison and was going to kill me, if it weren't for Haku acting as a tracker ninja and hitting me with those senbon of his, I would actually be dead. Then again he didn't have to be so cruel." She was tending to his wounds as he retold the story and she couldn't help but feel incredibly useless. She felt him pull her chin up to make her look at him. Zabuza couldn't believe that he had been ignoring the sad look in her eyes that had been there for a while, she wanted to help and he only pushed her away. _'I just want you to be safe.' _"Tomorrow I want you to start training again."

Megumi stared back in confusion. "J-just me?" He gently let go of her chin and pointed towards a wardrobe.

"You'll find inside a Katana I got for you a while back. Haku and Yuki have learned enough from me to do fine on their own but you still need to learn more. You will come here tomorrow morning so that I can teach you how to use the katana perfectly by two days." They all looked up in shock.

"Two days? I don't think I can do that…" she trailed off.

"I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't think you could do it. Fighting with Kakashi today made me realize that I've been neglecting you Megumi, I need you in top form so that I can use you to the fullest potential. By two days I should be feeling better and by a week we will be ready to finish this mission."

She heard Haku scoff, "Stubborn as usual." She couldn't help her giggle.

…..

It had been three days since that day and she had mastered the use of her katana. It was very difficult and Zabuza hardly let her rest, but in the end he had kept his promise of getting her to this point and for that she was thankful. Even though Zabuza was just using them for their abilities, she still cared for him and would do anything for him. On the day they were once again visited by Gato, this time Zabuza was in his bed resting, so Haku, Yuki, and Megumi were protectively surrounding him, not caring that they were seen as themselves.

"Some jonin, the unbeatable ninja just got beat limping home like some pathetic has been. Humph, Demon of the Hidden Mist ha ha ha more like Coward of the Hidden Mist!" Megumi was having trouble keeping control of herself so she was surprised when she saw Haku stand up. She was worried about the guards mainly. '_Drawing Swords.'_

Gato was not afraid at all; he was cocky with Zabuza in bed and thought he had nothing to fear. "Wait a minute." He waved off his guards. "Alright, let's hear what you have to say about this fiasco and don't play possum I know you can talk." He gasped as he found his arm in Haku's grip.

"Keep your filthy hands off him!" He gripped his hand tighter as Gato yelled out in pain, Megumi was sure Haku had at least severely sprained his wrist. His two guards quickly sprang into action but were no match to Haku's speed as he readily put their own swords against their necks. "Don't push me; I'm in a really foul mood." Yuki was even taken aback by the anger coming from Haku. '_He must be really mad to be like this.' _

Gato was very displeased as he growled "One chance, that's it! If you fail this time I'll cut you off and they'll be no one left to cover for you! Let's go."

Zabuza didn't look amused, Megumi and Yuki knew what he was about to do and were still surprised at Haku's interference. "Haku, that wasn't necessary."

"Perhaps, but it's too early to take out Gato, he's still our best cover. Think about it, the murders would draw their attention. And then they'd be after us again, we need restraint." Zabuza didn't want to accept it, but Haku was right it was the only sensible thing they could do.

"Alright."

**AN:**

**Please Review, I Beg Of You!**

**On another note… there was a lot of action in this chapter. Next one is going to be a bit slower but I plan on finally having some Sasuke/Megumi interaction. Until then,**

**-Michelle**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Haku?" Megumi was confused, she didn't usually see Haku with his hair down and she was a little worried since he was just staring out into the forest.

"Megumi, would you like to go out into the forest with me?"

"What for?" She was nervous; Zabuza had told them to stay in the hideout for fear of running into their targets.

"Don't worry, we won't be recognized. I just wanted to get some medical herbs to help with Zabuza's recovery. Maybe you could get him some flowers like you used to, I think he would like that." She remembered how she would bring Zabuza flowers after venturing into whatever place they were in at the time, she also remembered him never having a reaction to her presents.

"I'm not a kid anymore, and I doubt he even cared." She said looking out the window with him.

"You'd be surprised." He starred at her already knowing what she would say, she could never deny Haku.

"Ok, let's go get ready."

…

To better disguise themselves, they changed from their ninja gear to brightly colored kimonos to better blend into the town's look.

"Let's split up, I saw some flowers up ahead the last time we came by here. The herbs I'm looking for are in the other direction."

"That sounds good." And with those words they went in different directions.

Megumi's basket was almost filled with flowers when she felt someone approaching. She gasped as she saw it was the boy Sasuke. As she got up to leave quickly she tripped but was saved by none other than Sasuke. '_How embarrassing! I'm a ninja who trips and gets saved by her enemy!'_

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He didn't seem to recognize her as he looked at her.

"I-it's ok, I didn't expect anyone to be out here." '_Ok, he doesn't know who I am. Maybe I can get more information on him.' _Sasuke on the other hand was just confused as to why someone would be in the forest this early.

"Isn't it dangerous for you to be out here on your own?" He asked with more confusion than concern.

"Well, I'm not alone. My friend is around here gathering herbs while I gather flowers for… someone. Hmm, I think I have to start over though." She said as she saw the ruined flowers she dropped when she tripped.

Sasule did feel a little guilty for scaring her and decided to be nice to a girl for once. '_So far she hasn't been weird like Sakura.' _"Why don't I help as a sorry for scaring you?" Megumi could never resist the charms of a gentleman and blushed as she agreed. They were picking flowers in total silence and Megumi couldn't help but feel awkward. It was slowly consuming her mind, '_Why does the silence have to be so loud? _ _I can't take it anymore!' _

"So why are you out here anyway?"

He was surprised she had even spoken. "I'm looking for someone. He was an idiot that stayed here training all night."

"So then you are ninjas, and judging by your headband you're from the leaf village." Megumi already knew the answers but couldn't help but want to hear it from Sasuke himself.

"Yeah, we're here for a mission and stopped to train in this forest." He couldn't help but stare at the way she would pick the flowers; every stem was the same size '_like she was trained in precision and accuracy_.'

"Aren't you already strong though? Why do you have to train more?" He blushed a bit at her words.

"There's always room for improvement, I think." She giggled at his words. '_I must sound like an idiot, good thing Naruto isn't here he'd never let me live this down.' _"By the way what's your name?"

"I'm Megumi, what about you?"

"Sasuke." As he picked another flower he couldn't help but wonder why he felt so comfortable with her. He was contemplating the thought when he heard her call his name.

"Sasuke, can I um…" '_Uh-oh, what does she want?' _Sasuke was nervous as he waited for her question. "Can I please try on you headband?" She had her hands together and her eyes closed shut as she asked. '_Maybe she is a little strange._' He thought with a smirk.

"I guess it couldn't hurt."

"Thank you!" Next thing Sasuke knew, Megumi was basically hugging him as she untied his headband. She didn't think anything of it but Sasuke hadn't felt this awkward since Naruto had kissed him. She had the biggest smile as she put on the headband. "I've always wanted to be a ninja." It was true, despite being considered a missing ninja she never was an official one, she wanted to feel like she was part of something bigger, like the Leaf Village.

"It suits you." It was out before he could stop himself. She blushed at the compliment as she smiled. "I-I have to be going now, I'm still looking for the idiot." As she took off the head band and gave to him, she picked a purple flower and gave it to him. He accepted it but with a clearly confused face.

"It's to remember me." He smiled once he understood.

"Thanks, I wish I could give you something but I don't have anything with me."

"That's ok, if we meet again you can give me something there." She couldn't believe she was doing this. This was her enemy and yet she was basically becoming friends with him, but she couldn't help it there was something about him that she wanted to get to know.

"Alright, see you later."He left in the direction he was originally headed. As she got up to look for Haku she saw him coming from the same direction Sasuke had gone towards.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go" For some reason she wanted to keep her meeting with Sasuke a secret, something just for her.

Meanwhile, Sasuke felt the same. He kept the meeting to himself and kept the purple flower pressed in one his training scrolls for safe keeping. '_Till we meet again.'_

…

It had been another day and the herbs Haku had gotten him seemed to have worked wonders, and while no one had said anything about it, Zabuza had placed Megumi's flowers on his bed side table. This fact and her meeting with Sasuke had her incredibly cheery. Of course, happiness never stayed long for her.

Zabuza was sitting on a couch with his team surrounding him. As Megumi handed him an apple to eat he crushed it without a single problem.

"Your recovering quickly." Stated Haku.

He made a noise between a grunt and a growl as he responded, "Just a little longer Haku."

"Yes." That simple exchange of words swept away Megumi's good mood. Somehow she had forgotten about the mission, she forgot that her new friend was also her enemy, she forgot that she was a killer. It had never bothered and the only reason it did now was because she had a bad feeling about the coming days, and all she wanted to do was get rid of it.

"Can we train?" She asked Zabuza, it had always worked before in clearing her mind so why not now?

"You're not usually one for training Megumi, so why start now?"

"I just want improve myself to be of better use to you." She answered quickly, it was half lie; she really did want to be better but she also just wanted a distraction.

_The Next Day…_

Haku looked down at the sleeping Megumi, "She's never trained that hard before. Although, her skills are coming along nicely soon her blood line trait's strength should match my own, maybe even surpass it."

"She was reckless and trained too hard, now she'll probably sleep for the rest of the day." Zabuza stated as he fixed the bandages on his face. "Yuki, you'll stay here and take care of her. If she wakes up and we're still not back then meet us at the bridge sight to assist us."

"Got it." He didn't want to argue this time. He noticed how focused Megumi was during their training, '_Like she wanted to forget something.' _It worried him and made him want to make sure she was alright.

"Let's go Haku. We should be back in an about two hours, after today we either complete the mission or abandon it." With that promise, Zabuza and Haku disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Yuki looked down at the sleeping Megumi as she softly snored. '_You really are hopeless.'_ He thought with a smile.

It had been close to two hours and Yuki was walking back to Megumi's room when he heard her yell. "Argh! Why didn't someone wake me up?" He heard her footsteps grow nearer. "Yuki? Where'd they go?"

"So you're finally awake huh? Zabuza gave you the day off and left me here as nurse, there at the bridge right now finishing the mission."

She gave a soft growl as she went back to her room, "I can't believe they would do that! Yuki, they ditched us!"

"I really doubt they wanted to ditch us." He stated with a sweat drop. A second later she was fully dressed and dragging Yuki out the door.

"Well c'mon we got to help." Using their chakra to run faster, they ran towards the site where the bridge was being built.

'_Of all days to sleep in, it had to be this one.' _She scolded herself. They had been running silently for about five minutes both thinking anything when Yuki broke the silence.

"Megumi! Whatever we find in at the bridge, make sure you keep a level head." Her eyes widened in shock, she couldn't believe she was hearing Yuki say this. "Don't take it the wrong way, but think about it alright. We can't just jump in because we're worried, now tell me the Mist Village's Shinobi Rule."

She struggled because she knew the rule so will, Zabuza would always tell it to her when she was younger. "A shinobi must never show attachment."

As they landed on a tree close to the bridge, Megumi could barely see through the fog as the battle reached its highest degree. "He's using his Crystal Ice Mirrors." She stated. It had seemed Haku had been using them for a while and as she takes a closer look she could see Sasuke laying on the ground motionless. '_No…' _She took in a shuddering breath. '_What did I expect, he is my enemy.' _She felt a tear fall and looked back at the battle in time to see Naruto punch Haku through his mirrors and watches as the mirrors and his masks break away. "We have to help him!" She was stopped by Yuki's hand, he always seemed to know when to stop her.

"Megumi…" He said softly. She looked back at the scene and heard Haku accuse Naruto of taking his reason to live. '_He doesn't want to live anymore.' _She whimpered as she slumped into Yuki's arms. Then through the fog they heard growling and Zabuza's yells. The fog cleared up and they could see Kakashi ready to use a lighting jab on Zabuza who was trapped by dogs. The next moment happened so quickly that Yuki and Megumi stood in shock. Haku was on the receiving end of Kakashi's Lighting Blade and died keeping his wrist firmly inside him. Zabuza took the opportunity to try to slice through the both of them but Kakashi dodges and puts Haku's body down and disables both of Zabuza's arms with kunai knives.

It had happened so quickly that Megumi barely realized that she was crying fully and Yuki was trying to cover her face. She heard Gato's mocking tone though, "He sure made a mess of you, Zabuza." He had a gang of thugs behind him and she couldn't help but feel sick when she saw his smirk.

**AN:**

**Oh no! I think some of you know what's coming in the next chapter.**

**PLEASE! I beg of you Review!**

**-Michelle**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zabuza was still standing despite having serious wounds. "Gato? I don't understand, what is all this? Why are you her, and who are these thugs you brought with you?"

"Well you see there's been a slight change in plans. According to the new plan you die right here on this bridge, Zabuza."

"What?"

"That's right, you're too expensive. So I decided to take you off the payroll but of course even these thugs I brought with me cost something so if you could manage to slaughter a few of them before they take you down, I'd appreciate it. Think you can manage that, 'Demon Ninja of the Mist'" He laughed at his own sarcasm. They were in shock, Yuki couldn't believe that his mentors were being brought down right before his eyes, he could only imagine what Megumi was going through they were her family. "Look at you; you look as demonic as a wet kitten."

Zabuza managed to maintain his patience throughout the many insults and was even able to calmly speak. "Well well Kakashi, it would seem our fight is at an end since I am no longer in Gato's employ. Tazuna is safe, we have no quarrel."

Gato's next action managed to snap both Yuki and Megumi of their frozen states. "That reminds me, you little punk you grabbed me and nearly broke my arm, I've been meaning to repay you for that." It was like slow motion for Megumi as she saw Gato mutilate Haku's body with his cane but what truly shocked her was Naruto trying to defend Haku.

"Get away!" He tried to reach Gato but only managed to be stopped by Kakashi

"Hey stop! Use your head!" He tried to fight but only managed to frustrate himself further.

"Well what about you? You gonna let him do that?"

"Be quiet you fool. Haku's dead what does it matter?" Yuki already knew that Zabuza didn't care about them but to actually hear it from him hurt him a bit. It was like the stab already in his heart only got deeper.

"What? You mean you can just stand there and watch him get treated like a dog! You and Haku had been together for years doesn't that mean anything?" Megumi couldn't help but admire how passionate Naruto was towards Haku, she felt more tears fall. '_It seems I wasn't the only one who befriended an enemy.'_

"You don't understand the way of a shinobi, I merely used him just like Gato used me. Now it's over his usefulness is at an end. The loss of his strength and skill, yes that means something to me, but the boy? Nothing."

"If you mean that you're an even bigger rat than I thought." Naruto responded coldly.

Kakashi tried to calm down Naruto in order to prevent another dispute. "Okay that's enough, calm down Naruto he's not the enemy not right now."

"No! Shut up! As far as I'm concerned he's enemy number one!" He pointed at Zabuza and was breathing heavily as he did. "Why you, you ungrateful. After everything he did for you, Haku lived for you! You were the most important thing in the world to him!" Megumi remembered how much Haku would tell her about Zabuza, and how thankful he was to him every day. "And he meant nothing to you, nothing at all? While he was sacrificing everything for you, you never felt anything at all for him?" Yuki remembered yelling at Haku for mentioning not liking death, he never realized that Haku never did it for himself. "And if I become stronger does that mean I'll become as cold hearted as you? He threw his life away and for what? For you and your dream! You never let him have a dream of his own but he didn't care, and you just toss him aside like he was nothing! A broken tool, man that's so wrong. So wrong!" Megumi couldn't believe how much she was crying, she was silent but tears just kept pouring out of her eyes. '_Why Haku? Why did you have to be so good and die?'_

"…You talk too much." She looked up at Zabuza's rules and gasped, he was crying. "Your words cut deep, deeper than any blade. While he fought you, his heart was braking in two you see Haku was always to soft and to kind. He felt pain and sorrow and now curse him I feel them too. And something else, I feel content that this is how it ends." _'What?' _Megumi looked up in shock. '_Not you too, please don't give up.' _She mentally begged. She looked up and saw Zabuza rip his bandages off his face with his mouth. She had only ever seen his face once when she had to bandage his face for him. "Well, cat got your tongue? Are you surprised to discover I'm human? Even shinobi are human no matter how hard they try to escape that simple fact they always fail. Well at least I failed. Boy, give me your kunai."

Megumi gasped. "He's going to continue." She looked over at Yuki and saw that he was still in shock. "Yuki, Yuki!" She shook him and when he finally looked at her she saw the tear streaks on his face. "Yuki please, we have to help him."

"W-what?" He was still staring at her with wide eyes.

"We have to help him, c'mon." She pleaded. She felt a piece of happiness return to her as she saw a bit of his fierceness return to him.

"Right…" He nodded.

"…Right. We have to wait until after he strikes, if we just go head on we can be confused for enemy ninja by both sides and be overpowered." She was surprised she was able to think rationally at a time like this. As she looked back she saw Gato running away as she saw Zabuza start running towards him.

"That's enough of this, do it take him down now."

"Now!" In a flash Megumi and Yuki went inside of the group of thugs and began taking care of them. Megumi was using the katana that Haku and Zabuza had taught her and couldn't help but think if they would be proud of her for doing do well. She looked over to see him fight and saw him get stabbed by spears but he still kept going towards Gato. Just as he reached the edge of the bridge, Zabuza managed to stab him through his stomach and kept pushing only to be stopped by more spears. Gato struggled to breathe as he kept the kunai in him to stop the bleeding.

"You crazy fool!" he coughed. "If you thought you would join your friend go ahead but you're not taking me! Not this time!"

Zabuza was struggling to stand and Yuki and Megumi had been forgotten in the commotion to get Zabuza. Yuki sighed as he knew what would happen, his moment of weakness forgotten, he now knew what he had to do. "We have to go Megumi we can't risk getting caught." He thought he was going to see her in tears again but instead she watched Zabuza with blank stare. "Let's go." She responded quietly. They were had gone back to the tree they were in before when she looked back towards Sasuke's body. She was surprised to see him awake and waving at Naruto, she was even more surprised to see him look in her direction and quickly left to catch up to Yuki.

…

It was the next morning and Yuki and Megumi had packed up. As luck would have it, Zabuza had manage to get Gato's payment in advance and hid it under Megumi's flowers. They had followed Kakashi and his team in order to see what they would with Zabuza's and Haku's bodies and were surprised to see them bury them and leave their headbands and Zabuza's Executioner Blade above the grave. They waited until they left and saw Kakashi look around and leave a note on Haku's grave and left last.

Knowing that the area was clear Megumi quickly went after the note and read along with Yuki:

_Dear young shinobi,_

_I know you're out there. I must say I am impressed by you two, I never realized you were out there until Zabuza told me. He intrusted me to tell you how he really felt about you. His last words were brief but I believe they will mean the world to you; he said "Thank you". _

_-Kakashi Hatake._

They looked up at each other as they finished the letter. "So he really did care about us." He said almost to himself.

Megumi was just smiling at their graves. "Yeah, I'm glad they can finally rest. I know their together, wherever that is." She reached down and grabbed both mist village headbands off their graves. "We never did get our own, and this way we can have a piece of them with us, wherever we go." She said as she handed him Zabuza's headband.

"What about his sword?" He asked while leaning on it. "I wouldn't want someone to steal it."

"No one can steal, you know better than I do who that sword really belongs to, it'll just have to wait here until he comes to get it." She said as she laid purple flowers on their graves.

"Question, what do we do now?" He asked looking down on her, she was so small it was incredible how well she was taking this but he figured she was burying her emotions in order to cope._ 'That doesn't sound healthy.'_

"Now, I think we move on." They both nodded and smiled at each other's headbands. They were closer now than ever before. Megumi couldn't help but give their graves one last time. '_Good-bye'_

…..

It had been a couple of weeks since they lost their mentors. They had changed their clothes in order to blend in more; Megumi now sported a simple black and white kunoichi dress with her now prized katana on her left hip while Yuki remained basically in the same clothes except in black and white.

They now found themselves in the leaf village and Yuki couldn't help but think about how they got there:

They were walking down a road towards a nearby town in hopes of getting more supplies when Megumi stopped and stated her wish. "I think we should join the Chunnin Exams."

"What? Why would we want to do that?" He questioned while kept walking.

"Well, think about it. We could treat as training, we can see if we really are as good as we think we are in more ways than one."

That caught his curiosity. "How could this help us train?"

"It can tell us how good we are at infiltrating, we can fight with other ninja's from other villages, and I'm sure they'll have a written portion to test our knowledge, please!" She knew he wouldn't be able to resist her puppy face. The time they spent alone really did wonders for their relationship.

"Hmmm, I guess it wouldn't hurt, but how would we get in with ought any information?"

"Leave that to me, we have enough info from our past missions to create fake files for ourselves, and since it's fake I added some lower level missions to make it more believable, and I have an idea for our third teammate and – What?" She asked with a smile full of excitement.

He just stared at her with a blank expression as he adjusted his back pack. "You've been planning this haven't you? You already knew my answer."

She just stuck out her tongue at him as she passed him. "A could ninja is always two steps ahead of his enemy." He chuckled and caught up to her.

He looked around his surroundings. '_So this is the Leaf Village. It's nice I guess.' _"You sure you want to do this?"

"For the millionth time, yes I think this will be good for us." They continued toward the center of the village to look for a place they can stay since they planned on staying in the exam for a while.

**AN:**

**You may have noticed that I basically gave you nothing in describing Megumi and Yuki, and that's because I want you guys to see them the way you want to see them, of course I gave you the basics though, like Megumi's sword or Yuki's basic features. Also they of course have holsters for their knives, shuriken, etc. and all their secret stuff.**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW.**

**I finally got two (and thank you by the way) but call me greedy I WANT MORE! MUA HA HA!**

**-Michelle**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Alright, so the Chunnin Exams are in a week right?" Megumi looked away from the sky to Yuki as she heard the question.

"Yeah, I don't think we need much training, I just need to conserve my chakra in order to have our third teammate." They were walking down a street towards a ramen shop they kept hearing about, Ichiraku Ramen or something like that, she couldn't really remember.

"How did you learn the shadow clone jutsu anyway?" He asked absentmindedly without really caring, he had a theory that the nearly perfect weather they had in the Leaf Village was making him more carefree and laidback lately.

"After I saw that guy Naruto use it I noticed how difficult it was to distinguish his clone from himself, then he went even further and used a transformation jutsu over it. I just had to learn it so every time we would stop in a town I went looking for Leaf Village scrolls and one day I got lucky and found it." She was just walking aimlessly now since she had no idea where Ichiraku was.

"So that's what you were doing awake all those nights, you were training." He was now walking with his eyes closed, he was so relaxed. '_Maybe we should just stay here, it's really nice here no one knows who we are. We could be happy.' "_Ugh," he didn't realize Megumi had stopped walking until he bumped into her. "Hey why did you sto-"

"Shh. Do you hear that?" She said with a far off look in her eyes. Yuki looked from Megumi and tried to hear what she was talking about, he heard voices and they didn't sound happy. "Let's get a better look."

"Huh? Me-Megumi!" He looked back in time to see her standing on the fence. He climbed up with her giving her a stern look at the same time.

"Don't be such a prude they haven't even noticed us."

"That's because we know how to hide in plain sight." He answered as he looked at the confrontation.

"Sometimes you sound like a dictionary." They stayed silent as they watched on in curiosity as to what the boy in a dark jumpsuit would do the little boy in a green scarf, a girl next to him who she suspected to be his teammate just sighed in exasperation of the situation. '_This should be interesting_.' She looked over and was shocked to see Naruto and his female teammate. '_This should be very interesting.' _As she saw the boy in the jumpsuit about to punch the little boy she saw a rock hit his hand with incredible speed.

"Ow!" The boy cried out and looked up towards a tree. Yuki and Megumi also looked up to see Sasuke with a few other stones in his hands waiting to be thrown. "Why you. Come over here and really fight me you punk!" The boy was not happy as he challenged Sasuke, his face quickly changed to one of nervousness and the girl next to him looked petrified. Yuki gasped as he looked back to see a red headed boy upside down in a branch next to Sasuke. He didn't seem to notice him either as he stopped messing with the stones. '_How did he do that without me detecting it?'_

"That's enough Kankuro, Temari." He drawled. Megumi looked on with a blank stare then looked back at his team, '_Based on their headbands, they come from the Village Hidden in the Sand.' _

"B-but, I need to show these punks some respect." He growled with renewed courage. The girl looked even more afraid, if it was possible.

"S-sorry, it won't happen again. We should be going we wouldn't want to be late." She was trying to change the subject. The boy was suddenly next to them and was starting to leave when the pink haired girl called them back.

"Wait!"

"Sakura…" Naruto murmured, he didn't think she should say anything.

"Judging from your headbands you must be form the Sand Village, I understand our villages have a standing treaty but that doesn't mean you have permission to be here." By this time Sasuke had joined his team on the street.

"You mean you don't know? We do have permission to be here. We are going to be taking the Chunnin exams, I thought you would know that since they are taking place in your village." Megumi could clearly hear the mocking tone the girl had in her voice. She clearly thought they were better than them.

"Well I've never heard of any Chunnin Exams, believe it." Stated Naruto

"Oh, I believe it alright that you're totally clueless." Megumi heard the little boy, Konohamaru, explain to Naruto what the Chunnin exams were when she silently agreed with Yuki to leave. They were walking along the fence in the original direction they were heading to when they heard Sasuke call back the red headed boy.

"Hey, you! Identify yourself!" He demanded. The girl, Temari excitedly turned around hoping he was referring to her.

"Hmm, you mean me?" She flirted. Megumi couldn't help but sweat drop, '_Apparently a lot of girls react this way towards him._'She thought as she remembered her own embarrassing reaction and the obvious behavior of the girl, Sakura.

"No, him. The guy with the gourd on his back." He pointed at the red head in order to be clear. He turned as he answered.

"My name is Gaara of the Dessert, I'm curious about you too. Who are you?" He hadn't shown any change in emotions since he had gotten there and didn't seem to be going to.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha." The tension in the air was almost palpable and she was curious about this Gaara. The mood was interrupted of course by Naruto.

"Hi there, I bet your dying to know my name right?"

Gaara answered immediately without emotion, "I couldn't care less." Before they left, she felt Gaara look in her direction. '_More and more curious.' _ They continued to walk along the fences continuing their search for the mysterious ramen shop.

Sasuke was excited, an interesting new opportunity to gain more skill, he turned to leave when he saw a flash of familiar brown hair walking on the fences. '_No, it couldn't be. A lot of people have brown hair, it could've been anyone.' _But then, why didn't he notice them this whole time.

…

It had been about a week and it was the day of the exams. Megumi and Yuki were walking side by side with their new member in their team. They named him Haru because he looked the complete opposite. He had dark black hair, pale white skin, and the only thing that could really reflect the meaning of his name was his bright hazel eyes. When Megumi was contemplating who her clone would look like she picked someone she had seen in one of their missions back then, he wasn't very lucky. They were walking towards the ninja academy in silence thinking about the possibilities waiting for them.

"What room was it again?" Yuki sighed in exasperation; leave it to Megumi to forget something so menial.

"301 and we have to be there by 3:00. I have to say I'm impressed by you jutsu." He smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. It's a lot harder than it seems, I'm already using quite a bit of chakra as is."She was alright but she was nervous that someone would notice. '_Just treat it as training, if no one notices then I am awesome. C'mon positive reinforcement.'_ "It's a shame he can't speak, I would have loved to have heard his voice."

"Whatever…" Yuki walked ahead and went straight towards the stairs to go to the third floor. As they were walking they passed a group of ninjas outside a room marked 301. She looked hesitantly at Yuki as he kept walking. "Don't tell me you didn't notice the genjutsu Megumi." She gasped and blushed at the fact that she didn't. She should have noticed it, '_Stupid! Stupid!' _As they walked towards the stairs they heard certain voices louder than the rest.

"Hey you, what's your name?" As she turned around she saw a boy a little older than her with striking pale eyes. '_What's with the guys having nice eyes around here?' _

"It's common courtesy to give your name before asking for one." She had a small smile as she walked up the stairs but it was quickly wiped away when she saw the blush on all of the girls faces in that group. She felt her eyebrow twitch '_I'm starting to think this guy is a playboy.' _She looked back at Sasuke's face only to see Naruto looking at her in a strange way.

"Don't look or you'll make it obvious." Yuki pulled her along and held her arm as they went into room 301.

…

Megumi was nervous. Not because the first part of the exam had begun, but because the person sitting next to her was none other than Sasuke Uchiha. She had sat down in her space and looked around to see her clone Haru close to the window and Yuki all the way in the back. Once she looked up she made eye contact with Sasuke and gave a small gasp. He only stared at her with a blank expression and sat to her left.

'_Oh gosh, what do I do?' _She was in mental turmoil and couldn't even focus on the test, she already knew the answers and already knew that the real purpose of the test was to test their information gathering skills, but she was still freaking out that Sasuke might put two and two together and find her out. She soon heard a pencil moving next to her and realized that Sasuke was using his Sharingan to copy the movements of the person in front of him.

Sasuke wasn't shocked that he had to sit next to Megumi, he had already suspected that she was here, '_That guy Kabuto confirmed it too.' _He didn't believe that Kabuto had information on everyone so he had asked him about Megumi to test him; he got more than he could have asked:

"Tell me about a girl named Megumi." He had asked in the other room, he heard Ino and Sakura's yell of protest but just ignored it like always.

"Hmm, I guess even you can be interested in some girl." Kabuto joked.

"Shut up and tell me the information." Kabuto just mumbled fine and placed chakra into the card. It revealed a picture of her and the smile he remembered vividly.

"Well, isn't she cute? Not as beautiful as your two friends over there, but cute. Sakura and Ino blushed and hoped against hope that Sasuke would agree.

"Get on with it." He demanded. They visibly deflated but he didn't care, he wanted to know why Megumi was here.

"Alright, looks like she's had 2 D ranked missions, 9 C ranked missions, and, wow, 2 B ranked missions. Then again she is from the mist and they are a little crazy, anyway her teammates include two boys, one named Yuki and the other is Haru, weird… she doesn't have any other information and neither do her teammates."

He finished his small flashback and looked over at Megumi next to him, she looked very nervous.

'_Get a grip Megumi; he doesn't think it's a big deal so you don't have to think like that either.' _As she was about to start writing she felt a pressure on her left hand. She looked down and saw Sasuke was holding her hand; he was acknowledging the fact that he knew who she was and giving her confidence at the same time. She gave his hand a small pressure and looked back at her test. '_Let's do this.'_ The moment her pencil touched the paper she heard the proctor, Ibiki Morino speak.

"Before I give you the tenth question, there are some more rules you need to be aware of."

"Ah!" She looked down at her paper with wide eyes, it was completely blank. '_Where did the time go? I had all the answers but I didn't write them down?' _She looked around frantically how could she have been so distracted?

'_Oh no! What do I do?'_

**AN:**

**Sorry it's been a while, I've been trying to set up a plot for a new story I'm writing for harry potter.**

**I will probably update again on Saturday and I promise more action. Review!**

**-Michelle**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

She looked up in surprise; her only hope to go on to the next exam was the tenth question. Megumi watched on as everyone waited in anticipation for the last question. '_Ibiki Morino, from what I've heard, he's really big when it comes to interrogation. With a reputation like that he's no doubt going to try and weed out the cowards in here.'_ She had never been captured or question but that doesn't mean she hadn't been trained in how to withstand it. '_We are just Genin so maybe he won't be as intense as they say he is.'_

"Rule number 1. Each of you is free to choose not to take the final question. It's your decision."

Yuki looked around patiently waiting. '_Why would they give us that option? We obviously want the last question if we're here. There must be more to this than meets the eye_.' He looked over at Megumi, he was worried for her since he never did see her start the test. Yuki could see who was sitting next to her, '_These brats are more trouble than their worth.' _He gritted his teeth, she was keeping something from him that had to do with this team.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you get a zero. In other words, you fail. And that means of course, both your other teammates fail as well." The room soon filled with affirmations on taking the question.

Megumi was confused, so far the tenth question seemed to be nothing more than a sham, some regular question like the others. '_What's going on?'_

"Not so fast, you didn't let me finish." Ibiki was the picture of composure as he spoke. "If you choose to accept the question but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail. You will be barred from taking the Chunnin Exams ever again!" Megumi took in a sharp breath. '_So this is how he'll do it. It's a bit extreme but it will probably work. It's a good thing this won't really affect us, but I still feel the anticipation and nervousness.' _

She looked back as a boy in a fur trimmed hood stood and yelled at the proctor. "Hey that's bull man! That's ridiculous, what kind of bogus rule is that? There's lots of people in here who have taken the test before!"The boy's dog barked in agreement.

He laughed at his questions and everyone's confused looks. "I guess you're just unlucky, I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it, you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident, then by all means, skip it. You can back out and retake it next year." He continued to laugh at the inner turmoil the test takers were experiencing. "Now those who don't want to take it, raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go. The anticipation was palpable, as they waited with baited breath to see who would give up.

Then one guy stood up and quit, and like a spreading fire, more and more people stood up from the room and either quit, or were part of the team of someone who quit. Sasuke looked on in contempt, '_You're only as strong as your weakest link. So how will Naruto react?' _More and more numbers were called, some left in relief, some in anger, and a few with still frightened faces.

Megumi looked up as she heard a small collective gasp go through the room as Naruto raised his hand. '_That guy, Naruto, I guess he couldn't take it.' _She gasped in surprise when he suddenly slammed it on the table.

"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren't gonna scare me off, no way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a Genin for the rest of my life I'll still be Hokage some day!"

"This decision is one that could change your life, if for any reason you want to quit now's your chance."

"No way, I never go back on my word, that's the way of the ninja."

"Well then, I admire your determination. For those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do, and that's for me tell you that you all passed the first exam." Instead of happiness and relief, there was an even stronger wave of confusion in the room. Megumi couldn't take it anymore and stood from her seat to give him a piece of her mind.

"H-hold on! What just happened? What do you mean we passed, where's the tenth question?" She was aggravated, all this tension, the written exam, Sasuke and his team, it had all turned out to be unnecessary stress and she was angry about it.

He just laughed his now annoying laugh. "There never was one. Not a written one at least, actually your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question. She turned as she heard an even more annoyed Temari speak up.

"Wait a second! So the other nine questions were a waste of time. Is that what you're saying?"

"No no, not at all. Quite the opposite, the first nine question had quite the overriding purpose. To test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategic intelligence under the most adverse circumstances."

Temari looked up with a stubborn face at his explanation. "Oh, well that clears up everything." She stated with slight sarcasm.

As he continued to explain what the test was really about, she drifted off and looked towards clone. He was really using up a lot of her chakra but she had been the one with the idea. '_I won't be able to keep it up much longer though, I might pass out.'_ She was brought out of her concerns when she heard Sasuke talking next to her. "Man what a mess, scars and puncture wounds, burn marks, what he must've endured." She looked up in confusion and gasped at what she saw. Ibiki had taken off his headband and shown the signs of him being captured at one point. The most striking wound though were his puncture marks on his head.

He continued to go on with his speech about what a Chunnin operative is and what they represent.

Yuki looked out the window and blocked him out. '_Hmm, it seems to be a challenging exam already and I don't think it's going to get any easier. This should be fun' _He gasped as he saw a black object fly towards the window. All of a sudden it crashed through the window and someone disentangled themselves to land in front of a banner in front of Ibiki.

"Heads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi." The woman seemed very excited and judging by her entrance, she was very eccentric. "Ready for the second test? Good! Then follow me!" Megumi couldn't help her nervous smile escape her. '_Is she really like this? She didn't even let us answer.'_

Out of the corner of the banner, Ibiki appeared with complete composure. "You're early…again."

"Uh-heh heh." Anko blushed nervously but quickly gained her cool. "How many are there? Ibiki, you let all these guys pass?" she sounded disappointed at the success of the Genin. "Your test was too easy, you must be getting soft."

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year." He defended.

She didn't look like she believed him. "Hmm, sure don't look it. Trust me, when I'm done with them there will be more than half eliminated." She promised. "Heh, this is going to be fun. Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far but things are going to be different starting in the morning, I'll let your squad leaders know where to meet me. Dismissed."

….

Megumi, Yuki, and Haru made it back to their hotel room in time to see a note get placed outside their door by a messenger. Yuki walked up to the door and ripped the note off as he opened the door. With the door firmly closed Megumi released her clone jutsu and Haru disappeared.

"I don't know how much more I can keep up with that." She sighed as she fell on her bed.

Yuki sat across from her on the other bed as he read over the note. "You might not have to worry about that soon, our next exam takes place in a battle training zone. We're probably going on a scavenger hunt or hidden battles which means 'Haru' won't be needed as much. Just keep him up for appearances sake in the beginning of the second part."

"Alright, looks like I might be able to use my katana after all." She stated as she took out the items needed to clean and sharpen her blade.

"No, we want to make sure our strongest battle strategies are kept a surprise." He smiled. "If we want to show our true potential, then why not have fun with it and make it more challenging." His smile was so sinister it ended up looking a little funny.

"What's with the face?" Megumi asked with an eyebrow arched.

"Shut up and go to sleep." Megumi smirked knowing he didn't mean to sound rude in any way.

…

"Wow, where are we?" Naruto questioned.

Anko looked on at the candidates with a smile as she answered, "This is the location of the second part of the exam, the 44th battle training zone. But we call it The Forest of Death."

Megumi couldn't help but jump as she saw a bird get eaten by a giant snake inside the fences. "…The forest of death…" She stated with a shaky tone.

"This whole place just gives me the creeps." She heard Sakura complain.

Anko just smirked. "You should, and soon your about to find out why they call it the forest of death"

Naruto looked more stubborn as ever as he popped his hip out and mock her. "Soon you're going to find out why." Yuki and Megumi couldn't help but smirk at his imitation. "Hmph, do your worst you're not going to scare me off! I can handle anything!"

"So looks like we got ourselves a tough guy." Anko stated with a sickingly sick smile. In an instant she had thrown a kunai scratching Naruto and cutting a piece of a strange girl's hair and ending up behind him and trying to scare him. When she had returned to her place in front she had a bit of a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Now before we begin this test, I have something to give you all. It's just a standard consent form, before the test all of you are going to have to read over this form and then sign it. Some of you might not make it back from this task, and I have to get your consent to that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility." She was the only one laughing at the situation. "Alright you need to know is that this task will be testing all of your survival skills, the 44th battle zone has 44 entrances surrounding it, in the center of the forest is a locked tower ten kilometers from every gate. The test consists of an anything goes battle to get your hand on these scrolls. Half of you will be going after the heaven scroll while the other half goes for the earth scroll."

'_So only half of the teams here will make it, geez this might be tougher than I thought.' _Megumi contemplated.

"By the way, there are ways you can get disqualified, 1. If all members of the team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls in five days, 2. If a team loses a member, but most importantly none of, absolutely none of you can look at the contents of the scrolls until you reach the tower."

"Crap." Megumi mumbled. She was going to have to make another clone and bring back Haru before they finished and with five days ahead of them it looked like it was going to be tough.

"Alright, take your consent forms and pick up your scrolls after that each team can pick a gate and you'll be let inside."

They stood waiting in front of gate 14 for the test too begin. The second it opened they ran towards what they thought was the center of the forest. They stopped in a secluded are close to a small hidden pond and silently decide this would be their home base.

Megumi undid her clone and made sure to remind herself to save some chakra to bring back Haru when he would be needed at the end of the task.

Once they had placed signs only they recognized as ways to get back, they walked farther into the forest and came upon a heaven scroll on the ground. Yuki let out an exasperated breath. "You gotta be kidding me." It was obviously a trap, and not a very well placed one. It was pointed in the direction the enemy ninja had planned their ambush. Wanting to be nice, Megumi threw three shuriken up the tree in order to bring them to their level on the ground for an even battle.

As they jumped out they could see a squad consisting of two girls and on boy from the Waterfall Village ready to fight with kunai knives. "Well ladies, looks like we were caught. Let's show these losers a lesson."

"Right!" they both answered. The girls went after Yuki while Megumi was left with the guy who straight away went into the offensive and started swiping at her with his kunai. She dodged and weaved looking for the opportune moment to hit him. At that moment Yuki had cut a girl in the stomach who cried out, '_There!' _As he looked towards his fallen team Megumi quickly did the signs for the water clone jutsu and used the clone to hit him hard enough in the back of the head with her katana.

"That was fast." Megumi stated she fixed her gloves. "I didn't even notice you take out the first girl, Yuki."

Yuki kicked the scroll to check for anymore traps and picked it up when the coast was clear. "Don't get to confident, we got lucky but something tells me we might be facing more problems soon."

"Party pooper." She whined.

**AN:**

**Next chapter has got some more Megumi/Sasuke interaction so get ready!**

**In case you're wondering, their fight for their scroll was simple because I re-watched the show and thought "what happened to the filler ninja?" and I came up with this funny idea that they just really sucked and that even other ninjas react with "what just happened." Next chapter though I plan on having WAY more action. **

**Please! Please give me critiques! I beg of you!**

**-Michelle**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

They had returned to their spot by the pond with both scrolls and had been contemplating their next move. "I got it!" Yuki exclaimed with a clap, "Since we got the scrolls with really no problem, and it's barely day one. Why don't we split up and try to gather more scrolls."

Megumi wasn't sure if she liked the idea but it would be efficient. There would be less competition, and they would be able to see how well they did separated. "B-but what if one of us gets into something we just can't handle? And who would carry the scrolls?"

"If we run into trouble then we should just focus on escaping, if you're still in trouble then use your Kekkei Genkai, as for me I'll just have to use a certain trick I have up my sleeve. For the scrolls, uh… oh! We'll each carry one, I'll take heaven and you take earth." He gave her the earth scroll and began walking in one direction. "You go the other way. If we don't see each other at the tower by the fourth day then we can assume we got into some trouble and leave the area."

She gasped at his words. "What? And just give up on the test?"

"You said this would be nothing but a training exercise. So it shouldn't matter, you're lucky I'm giving you till the fourth day anyway so don't complain." She knew she had lost their small fight; she never really did ever win, so with an exasperated sigh she answered.

"Fine, way to make more rules. Four days is our time limit so you better make sure I see you at the tower in three!" Megumi walked farther into the woods not knowing what she would find on her own but knowing that it wouldn't be boring.

…

She had been jumping quickly through the forest in search of more enemies when she came upon a curious sight. A giant snake was coiled around something, what made it stranger was that this snake was incredibly big. "Ah! Naruto!" She yelled as she saw who was coiled. Unfortunately, the minute he turned towards her the snake had decided to strike and ate him. "Ugh, he won't last long without being digested." She threw shuriken at the snake but it would only swat them away with its tail. She tried slashing at it with her blade but it would only strike at her, forcing her to dodge. As she thought about her next move she heard a familiar voice call out from inside the snake.

"Shadow-Clone Jutsu!" The snake expanded to an incredible size until it couldn't take it anymore and exploded. A big group of Narutos came flying out and would disappear as they crashed to the ground. Megumi walked up to Naruto and couldn't help but cover her nose as she offered him her hand.

"Ew, you really stink." She smiled.

He made a noise of disgust as he took her hand and stood up. "You try being in a snakes stomach and not stink." He gave a strange look and stared down at her headband. "Your Haku's friend Megumi, aren't you? Why did you save me?" He questioned quietly. Her eyes widened in slight shock but then turned into a serene look.

"Any friend of Haku's is a friend of mine." They walked towards a small a patch of grass away from the snake's corpse as they agreed to talk.

"So how do you know about me?" Megumi asked.

Naruto didn't really know where to start since he didn't want to be embarrassed but decided he might as well tell her the whole story. "Well you see Haku found me in a forest in the Land of Waves where we were training. And I was kinda, sorta passed out from too much training." He fininshed with a nervous laugh. She giggled as he continued, "Anyway, he talked about a friend he had that he described exactly like you. After I found out he was the enemy and seeing you at the ninja academy I just figured you must have been in his team."

"….You're a lot smarter than your team makes you sound." She stated.

"Thanks, so wait. How do you know about me and my team? I doubt Haku told you about us."

"Your right, Haku didn't talk about you. But it was because my teammate, Yuki, and I were acting as intelligence for that mission. We watched your battles and looked for weaknesses and strengths; I kinda got to know you guys while watching." She sounded nervous because she wasn't sure how he would react.

Naruto could see how nervous she was, he should have been too since they were enemies in this exam. "Just so you know I'm not going to hurt you. That mission was a while ago and we were just following orders." He smiled, "I actually want to be friends with you after hearing all this nice stuff about you."

"I'd like that. Uh, if you don't mind me asking; where are your teammates?" She asked while looking around.

"R-right! I have to find them, who knows what trouble they might be in without me. You want to come with me and get to know them." She just nodded in acceptance, it was incredible how nice Naruto was being to her but then again that was his personality from what she had seen. '_Thank you, Naruto. You have no idea how much this means to me.' _Megumi was happy, she had a chance at getting more friends.

As she followed him through the trees she couldn't help but be curious about something. "Hey Naruto!"

He looked at her from the corner of his eye as they continued running. "Yeah!"

"Did you think Haku was a girl when you first met him?" The blush on his face was enough of an answer enough for her.

"Le-let's just keep going, OK."

They kept jumping through the forest when they came upon a distressing situation. Sasuke and Sakura seemed to have been in an intense battle and had been exhausted as their enemy somehow slithered up the tree going towards Sasuke. Megumi threw a kunai knife while Naruto threw three shuriken in front of the snake lady in order to stop her.

"Looks like I came just in time!" Naruto said. Megumi just looked at him with a frown, '_Way to take all the credit.'_

"Naruto!" Sakura looked relieved as she saw him on a different tree with Megumi.

Megumi had to admit, Naruto did look cool with his arms crossed and his determined face. "Oh and by the way, what was that password again?"

"Password?" She asked.

Sakura's face changed to one of annoyance that Megumi got used to seeing on her. "Forget it know it's you." Sasuke couldn't believe it, not only did Naruto not know what he had gotten himself into, but he had also dragged Megumi into the problem.

"Naruto! Get out of here! What are you thinking? You don't know what you're up against!" He gritted his teeth, '_Megumi doesn't even have anything to do with this, she has to go.'_ "Hurry. Go now and take Megumi, while you still can!"

The woman wrapped around the tree sneered at them. "So Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend. Well done."

"Hmm, I get it. So that wasn't any random giant snake attack." He said thoughtfully.

Megumi just gave him a strange look, "Naruto, I don't think those are ever random." Sasuke looked on angrily as they spoke. '_They don't get it; they don't know what they're dealing with. What do I do?' _

"Ok Ok, I don't know what's going on here but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that. So you better slither on back into your hole snake lady, before I make a pair of shoes out of you!" Naruto threatened.

They were all staring at each other waiting for someone to make a move when Megumi noticed Sasuke's Sharingan had disappeared. "You can have it." He searched his back holster for something as Megumi looked on in confusion. "The scroll, that's what you want? Alright then, take it and leave us in peace."

The woman was still wrapped around the tree as she spoke with a hand on her hip. "Very wise, very sensible."

"Take it." Sasuke growled. Megumi gasped as she saw him take out a heaven scroll and throw at their enemy, and almost as if in slow motion she saw Naruto jump through the air and catch it. "Stop being the hero Naruto! Just stay out of it and leave it to-" He was cut off as Naruto turned and punched him on the cheek. Sasuke recovered from his punch fast enough to land on another branch. "Stupid fool, you don't know what you're doing!"

Megumi was confused. '_Sasuke, why are you acting like this?' _She thought as she jumped down with Naruto. She looked next to her and saw Naruto panting form the force in his punch. "I may not know the password, but I know who I am. You're the one I'm not so sure about. How do we know you're who you say you are?"

Sakura gave another annoyed face. "What do you mean, it's him. Don't be so stupid."

"What sort of nonsense is this? It's me you loser!"

"Liar! When did the Sasuke I know become a coward! You keep saying I don't understand what's going on but I do; you chocked!"

The woman laughed as she stood, "Sad but true, as far as the scroll goes I can just kill you and take it." As she raised her sleeve Megumi took out another kunai as did Naruto. Their eyes widened as they saw a summoning seal on her arm and ran towards her.

"Don't! Naruto, Megumi no!" But it was too late for Sasuke to stop them. Megumi went straight towards her while Naruto jumped for an aerial attack. As she did the signs and summoned a giant snake, Megumi jumped up along with Naruto in order to avoid being crushed under its weight. They kept moving as it followed them and stopped at another branch.

"Hmm, what a nice meal you'll make for him." She laughed. "Careful, he likes to play with his food." Megumi quickly dodged its tail as it came out of nowhere but saw Naruto get thrown up into the bottom of another branch and then fall once again. She couldn't save him since she had to land on a far tree and couldn't make it fast enough. "Ha, that's enough. Finish him off." As he was falling he opened his eyes, and she saw they were red. '_A Kekkei Genkai? No, this is something else but what?' _He turned in the air and managed to kick the snake in its nose and leave a bruise.

He continued to give the snake a barrage of fists and wasn't showing signs of letting up. She barely heard Sakura as she commented; "Look at him. He's gone nuts! Where did he get that bit of power all of a sudden?" '_My thoughts exactly.' _Every time he got thrown he would come back stronger until the grass ninja decided she had enough and threw a type of fireball jutsu his way. He broke through many branches until he fell on his back on an especially sturdy branch.

"W-was that Naruto?" Exclaimed Sasuke.

"Now then, let's see how well you do Sasuke." Hissed the snake lady. Megumi wasn't going to have that though and got in a defensive stance in front of Sasuke. They were about to be hit when they suddenly saw Naruto stop the snake with two kunai knives in its face. '_How does he still have energy?'_ Megumi thought with wide eyes.

"Hey you're not hurt are you, scaredy cat." She heard Sasuke gasp behind her. It was hard to believe this was Naruto, his eyes were a blood red and his whisker marks were more profound. "Hiding like a scared little rabbit, no way you're not the Sasuke I know." Suddenly they all gasped as the Grass ninja's tongue wound around Naruto and brought him up to her level.

"Interesting, so the nine-tailed brat lives." Megumi gasped as she saw the woman's fingers get purple flame and then stab them into Naruto's stomach. She stood frozen next to Sasuke as she saw the woman throw Naruto to his death and saw Sakura pin him to a tree with a kunai knife of her own.

"Sasuke! Say what you want about Naruto, that he's a pest, that he gets in the way, but at least he's-he's doing something! At least he's no coward!" Sakura cried as she said this, as if it hurt her to hear it from herself. Megumi looked back at Sasuke and saw that he had brought back his Sharingan eyes. '_So he's ready to fight again, OK this might actually end well.'_ Megumi thought as she put her kunai away and readied her katana.

"Megumi, stay out of this. You've done enough." Said Sasuke as he continued to look at their enemy.

"S-Sasuke, I can help you I-"

"No! Mind your own business, this is my battle and if you want to help then take Naruto and Sakura away from here." He was acting like a stubborn child but Megumi could be stubborn too.

"I'm not leaving you!"

He just growled at her. "Fine." He then began to throw shuriken at the ninja and appeared behind her quickly and threw his own barrage of fists. As he dodges one of the girls fists he throws more shuriken at her. Thinking she had dodged them she gasps as she finds herself straped to a tree with invisible yarn. Sasuke then quickly pulled on a piece of yarn from his side as he looked at her. "Dragon Flame Jutsu!"

Sakura and Megumi both gasped as they saw the flames engulf the Grass ninja. Their eyes widened in shock as they heard a new voice come from the ninja. The face looked almost melted off and revealed a frightening yellow eye. He laughed as he stared at them, "My my, what immense power of the sharingan at such a young age. You truly are his brother, if anything your eyes are even keener than Itachi's."

Sasuke growled at the mention of the name. "Who are you!"

"I am Orochimaru, if you wish to fight again just seek me out." As he steps away from the burned strings, he make a hand seal and seems to freeze them where they are. He laughs cruelly as he makes more seals and stretches his neck towards Sasuke and bites him hard on the left side of the neck. As he disappears into the shadows, Sakura and Megumi are able to run forward towards Sasuke as he screams in agony. She tries to hold him by his shoulders and looks up as she hears Sakura whimper and sees tears sliding down her face. Megumi looked up towards Naruto's hanging body and then back down at the now passed out Sasuke. All that could be heard was Sakura's crying and she knew she had to stay and protect them, they were her friends now.

**AN:**

**Here you are, expect chapter nine tomorrow folks.**

**I don't think I need to remind you but REVIEW! C'mon please! I need some form of motivation to keep me going. **

**Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter.**

**-Michelle**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"I'm Megumi, by the way." Sakura looked up at her as she placed a new wet cloth on Sasuke's forehead and hung up the other one.

"Yeah, I heard Sasuke mention it and I noticed you know Naruto too. Can I ask how?" Megumi nodded as she changed Naruto's wet cloth. Naruto still hadn't woken up from whatever justsu Orochimaru had used on him and Sasuke was running a fever from the bite he had received. He had a strange bruise on his neck that Megumi was to afraid to do anything about.

"I met Sasuke back in the Land of Waves when I was disguised as a regular town's person and we became friends. Naruto got to know my teammate Haku, the one with the mask, and during the exam we got to know each other and also became friends." Sakura couldn't help but be jealous of Megumi, not only was she a better skilled kunoichi but she also got along better with Sasuke and Naruto than she ever did. '_She's just all around better than me.'_ She looked down and could feel her eyelids getting heavier.

"Sakura, you can sleep if you want. I can keep watch until you wake up." Megumi offered with a smile. Sakura shook her head in an attempt to wake herself up.

"No, I can't fall asleep. I have to protect these two." She stated with determination. Megumi saw her eyes closed and let her have a small nap. She looked up at the sky and saw the sun, she had two more days to meet up with Yuki and she had promised to most likely see him tomorrow. '_I guess I can't go until this team is up and going again.'_She sighed as she saw all three of them bruised, cut, and sleeping. '_I probably don't look any better after that short fight I had with Orochimaru.'_

She was taken out of her thoughts as she heard Sakura gasp for breath and turn to look at her comrades in desperation. "It's Ok, it was just a nightmare." She tried to calm her. They soon heard rustling in the bushes behind them and pulled out kunai in defense. Megumi held hers with confidence and a hint of fear but she could see the fear plainly written on Sakura's her face as she clutched the knife with both hands and trembled. They both slowly turned to look at the intruder and found….a squirrel. Megumi clutched her head in relief while Sakura looked a bit annoyed.

"Oh man, don't surprise me like that little guy." Megumi just shook her head as she heard her talk to the squirrel but quickly turned when she heard gasp and throw the knife. "That was too close."

"…Yeah that was..." She agreed as she looked at the kunai on the ground. She had a feeling they weren't alone and drew her blade in case of an ambush. She looked back at Sakura and saw her nodding off from where she sat. '_She must not be used to these types of situations.'_

"Some look out. You're half asleep." She turned towards the voice and found herself face to face with Sound Village team. "At least you don't have to keep watch anymore, now wake up Sasuke so we can fight him." Said the man who was wrapped in bandages.

Sakura had regained her look of confidence as the confrontation woke her up. "What do you want? I know Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows." They all looked shocked by the revelation. "What's that strange bruise behind Sasuke's neck? You're behind that too aren't you, and now you want to fight him when he can't defend himself?" Megumi never really did like speaking to the enemy but in this case it worked for Sakura as their new enemy looked visibly shaken.

After a moment of silence, the boy with head guards finally spoke. "I can't stay quiet after hearing you talk to us like that, first I'll kill these girls and then I'll kill Sasuke." As he stood to attack he was stopped by the man in bandages as he surveyed the ground.

"Wait Zaku. You know there's no point in putting a trap if you're not going to conceal it." He said as he discovered a trap on the ground. Megumi and Sakura kept glaring but Sakura was losing focus as she felt a bead of sweat go down her face.

"Ha, you're just a joke. You even need a ninja from another village to protect you." Zaku laughed.

"Now we kill them." As they sprang to attack them Megumi smiled as Sakura cut a wire dropping a giant log on them. Megumi saw quickly as he used a device on his arm to break apart the log and keep coming towards them. "Nice try little girls. Clearly you have no talent as a ninja, someone like you needs to put in a little more effort, don't you think?" Megumi stood straighter ready to counter and protect when someone got in the way and did it for her.

"Leaf Hurricane!" She was shocked to see a boy in a green jumpsuit in front of them with a taijutsu battle stance. "Looks like you also need to make more of an effort."

"Who are you?" The Sound ninja growled.

"I am the Handsome Devil of the Leaf Village, and my name is Rock Lee." He stated. Megumi looked at him in disbelief. '_And I thought these guys were weird. "Handsome Devil?" What kind of a title is that?"_

"What are you doing here, Lee?" Sakura asked.

"I will always be there anytime and anywhere that you are in trouble Sakura."

"But right now on this test, I'm your enemy." She persisted.

"That didn't stop your Mist Village friend from helping you, and Sakura I already told you; I will protect you until I die." Megumi couldn't help but think how sweet that sounded.

"Thank you Rock Lee." Lee quietly cried and cheered in his mind. '_Yes! Guy Sensei she said yes!"_

The leader of their group took out an earth scroll and threw it towards the boy, Zaku. "Looks like I have no choice, Zaku I'll let you have Sasuke. I'll take care of these brats." Megumi looked over at Sakura and noticed Lee do the same. '_She's in no condition to fight'_They both thought. She was poised to attack as the man readied his arm and jumped in the air dodging Sakura's kunai and shuriken, when suddenly. Lee dug his hand into the ground and blocked his attack with a giant tree root he pulled up.

"I am positive there is some trick in your attack, therefore I will not waste my time trying to dodge it. After all, I have seen your jutsu before." He stated from behind the root. '_Wow, he's tough.'_

Megumi finally spoke to him after her long silence. "What are you doing?" She asked as she watched him unwrap his own bandages.

"The condition has been met, I must use this jutsu." He answered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but consider me your back up." She stated.

He smiled back at her for her kind gesture. "Thank you, but I doubt I'll need your help." As the Sound ninja went after him again, Lee disappeared in a flash then reappeared kicking him under the chin. The ninja flew into the sky with Lee closely behind when his bandages wrapped around him and started falling and spinning to the ground with incredible speed. "Primary Lotus!"

'_There's no way anyone can survive that fall with that kind of speed._' In the corner of her eye though, she could see Zaku making hand signs and putting his hands in the ground.

"Ha, gotcha just in time." He stated. All that could be seen were the feet of the sound ninja but something felt wrong. He kicked himself out of the ground and shook his head.

"What? How can this be?" Lee exclaimed

"That jutsu nearly took me out even by landing on this soft dirt." He raised his sleeve to reveal the weapon on his arm. "Now it's my turn."He ran towards Lee and missed punching him but Lee still cried out in pain. _'What? But he missed, or did I miss something?'_Megumi stepped forward seeing that Rock Lee might be in need of her help after all. "You're jutsu is indeed fast, but ours is even faster because it travels at the speed of sound."

Megumi and Sakura gasped as the saw Lee bend over and puked everything in his stomach. "Lee what's wrong? Ah!" Saskura was very worried as she saw him start to bleed from his ears

'_He's not going to be able to take much more, I might need my secret jutsu with these guys.'_Megumi stepped up next to Lee as he clutched his ear in pain. "Oh, I forgot to mention this gadget I wear. I don't need to strike you with my fists, I can hit you with the power of sound. Feeling a little dizzy, noxious? That's right, I hit the inner organs of your ear that control your balance. Now then, little girl, it's your turn!" Megumi tried to cath up to him as he moved towards Sakura but he was too fast. '_Traveling at the speed of sound will do that.'_She was almost there when Lee flashed in front of them again and blocked the attack.

"Lee move!" But it was too late, Megumi couldn't get any closer for fear that the attack might affect her too. He had been hit with a direct wave of sound to his ear and fell to the ground. As he was about to finish off Lee Sakura threw shuriken and kunai but they would just dodge or block them. As she threw more Zaku blocked them with air and sound coming from small holes in his hands and threw them back. As Sakura tried to recover her hair was grabbed by the silent girl and held tightly in her hand.

"My my, what soft and shiny hair, but you know what; maybe if you spent less time shampooing and more time practicing your jutsu you wouldn't be in this little predicament. Zaku, let's make her watch as you finish off Sasuke."

"Not so fast," Megumi moved quickly to try and set free but was stopped by the bandaged man.

"I forgot about you little lady." She slashed at him with her Katana, not wanting to give him an opening to use his sound technique on her. As he blocked her blade with his device she saw an opening. '_Gotcha.'_She smirked as she quickly made the signs for a special jutsu.

"Water-Style: Ice Darts Jutsu!" She could feel her chakra turn to water as she felt it come out of her mouth like a fireball jutsu. She knew that with this technique she would most likely be able to break the device he had on his arm. The ice hit him directly as he blocked and while he tried to withstand the force of the attack he was thrown a few feet away. She looked on to see if she was successful in her attack but gasped as the dust cleared away. He was still able to stand and his device only had cracks running through it.

"He he, don't you listen? I'll admit that attack did leave more damage on me, but in the end my sound technique was still able to at least soften the blow." She tried to get close to Sakura to help her but the man would only try to attack her with his sound, when she would try to strike him with her blade he would either dodge or block the attack. She wasn't getting anywhere and it was frustrating her. '_This is pointless, I have to help Sakura!'_She grit her teeth as they continued to dodge and weave through each other's attacks, but they could never get close enough to land a blow. As they stared at each other not sure of the others next move they heard the female Sound ninja speak.

"C'mon, it's pointless that won't work on me." Megumi looked over and saw Sakura still being held by her hair but with a kunai in her hands. Her eyes widened as she saw Sakura's determined face.

"It's not meant for you." Everyone's eyes widened when they saw her cut her hair in order to escape the girls grip. She saw as Sakura stood with her hair falling at her sides and her headband falling behind her.

Recovering from small shock, Zaku yelled at his comrade. "Kin, finish her!"She quickly took out senbon and ran towards Sakura, but Sakura had quickly made the hand signs for a substitution and turned into a log as she got hit. "You think I'll fall for your lame jutsu, I'm way ahead of you." Zaku readied his hands as he saw Sakura running towards him with kunai in each of her fingers and threw them at him, "Pathetic, thanks for the gift I hope you don't mind if I return it. Slicing Sound-Wave!" She quickly made the seals again and turned into a log as the kunai rebounded. She appeared above him and started making the seals a third time. "You really want to keep playing this game. Cause I got news for you, I'm not falling for it." He took out kunai of his own and threw them at her. She was stabbed in multiple areas of her body and Zaku waited for the substitution. "Ok, so where are you coming from next." He gasped as he felt blood on his face and looked up in time to Sakura stab him in the arm and bite down on his other arm. "Get off of me!" He kept punching her head but she wouldn't let go.

Meanwhile Megumi was still trying to get close, but it always ended the same. "Sakura! Please stop, you're only getting yourself hurt!" She was only ignored and could see why, Sakura didn't want to be taken cared of anymore. She continued to fight the bandaged man but she was starting to lose energy from all the dodging. '_This can't go on much longer. He's going to find an opening.'_ She heard Sakura cried out and saw her fall to the ground after a hard punch. She got on her hands and looked at Zaku. Her face was bruised and bleeding and she was struggling to breath, as she was about to get hit, another Leaf Village team appeared in front of Sakura in defence.

"Ino?" She gasped.

"Surprised? I promised I wouldn't let you show me up, didn't I?"

AN:

Please Review T_T

-Michelle


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The bandaged Sound Ninja growled at the new arrivals. "These Leaf Village worms keep crawling their way into things that have nothing to do with them. I can't wait to be done with them."

Megumi saw as the new arrivals fought with each other over whether or not they should have come. They were a strange group, the boy with his spiked hair up seemed to be just too bothered to even fight, the chubby boy was begging to leave, and the blonde girl who had brought them there looked a little hesitant to fight now. _'How strange.' _ They continued to argue and didn't seem to be getting anywhere when Zaku laughed.

"Better a live sheep then a dead lion, right fatso?" Megumi saw a change in the boy named Choji, his ear twitched and he stopped struggling with the grip his teammate, Shikamaru, had on his scarf.

"Did I just hear that right? What did that guy just say?" Choji said in an ominous voice. "You wanna try saying that again?" Shikamaru looked panicked as he looked at Choji and then at Megumi.

Zaku just smirked as he saw he was provoking Choji. "I said you're smart to leave while you still can, fatty."

"Who are you calling fat? I'm just a little chubby, Ok!" Megumi looked on in confusion as he seemed to gain a flame in his eyes. '_How is this the same guy_?' She pondered. "That's it, now this is personal! It's a battle to the death between Leaf and Sound."

Shikamaru and Ino were no longer worried; they even seemed a bit confident. "Mist ninja! Move out of the way, we seem to have a handle on this now." He said towards her with a smirk. She put her blade away thankful that she could rest even if it were a few minutes and moved towards Sakura to help her take care of Naruto and Sasuke.

Ino looked back and gave them a reassuring smile before she looked at the battle ahead. "Ok team Ino, let's show them who's boss. Formation; Ino-"

"Shika-"

"Cho-"

Sakura and Megumi looked on as Choji used the Expansion jutsu to grow rounder and bigger. "Human Boulder-Jutsu!" He rolled towards Zaku but he only stopped him with his slicing sound wave but Choji kept going which made Zaku try harder, what he didn't notice was that Choji was picking up speed with the wind and soon jumped over it to reach Zaku.

"Zaku!" The bandaged ninja saw that his comrade would not survive the impact at Choji's incredible speed. "What?" He almost reached him when he suddenly stopped; his shadow was stretched out and was connected to Shikamaru's shadow. Every move Shikamaru made, his enemy would copy and at one point he kept him standing with his legs apart and hands at his head.

He tried to get out of his grip but he wasn't in control of his body. "It's some sort of paralyzes jutsu." He grunted.

Shikamaru tried looking as serious as possible as he made strange stances. "Ino, I'll leave the girl to you."

Ino stepped up and put her hands together aimed at Kin. "Alright, just take care of my body. Ninja Art, Mind Transfer-Jutsu!" At first glance it looked like Ino had knocked herself out as she fell against Shikamaru when in reality, Kin had been hit directly with her soul.

"Kin! What's wrong with you?" Her teammates yelled. They gasped at her next move.

"Party's over fellas" Ino stated from inside of Kin as she held a knife to her throat. "Take it easy. One false move and your teammate here gets it. So here's what you do, just drop the scroll and walk away." After recovering from their initial shock, they smirked at the opportunity that presented itself to them.

Megumi's eyes widened as she saw their reaction. "Ino move! They're going to attack you!"

"Wha- Choji!" Ino called to Choji to block Zaku's attack towards her. He wasn't fast enough though and was knocked out of his jutsu dizzy. As for Ino, she was thrown at a tree and both Kin's and her own body ended up bleeding from the side of the mouth. She tried to get up from the ground but found it too difficult. "I- I don't get it, what kind of monster attacks their own teammate."

"Dosu and I aren't really playing by your rules, we don't care about stupid scrolls." They laughed as they aimed at their own teammate on the ground.

Dosu looked down in time to see Shikamaru's shadow receding from his own. "Oh, I see. The paralyses jutsu only works for a certain amount of time."

Shikamaru looked on in frustration as his jutsu undid itself. "It's Shadow Possession –Jutsu, get your jutsu right."

"Whatever. And your little friend can slip her soul into her enemy's body. But it's dangerous, any damage her enemy receives she also receives, so say Kin were to die." He explained as Zaku aimed towards Kin with his hand.

Shikamaru seemed to be trying to come up with another plan but obviously couldn't think of anything. "Oh man, what a drag."

"It seems we arrived at the right moment." They all looked up and saw Rock Lee's team member speaking with the female member next to him. "It looks like someone used our teammate as a punching bag, no one gets away with that!" His look seemed to be piercing everyone he looked at and his eyes widened when he saw a strange bit of chakra.

Dosu had lost his patience with him. "Well? Are you going to do anything about it?" Neji closed his eyes and relaxed when he spoke next.

"It looks like it's been taken out of my hands." They all had confused faces until they turned and saw Sasuke become completely engulfed in a purple chakra and wake up.

Sakura looked in excitement as she saw him stand, "Sasuke! You're awake, ah!" Her expression changed to fear as she looked at Sasuke. Megumi couldn't believe this was him, he had a very evil aura and had strange marks on half his body. '_Sasuke…' _

He looked up in anger with his sharingan blazing, and something close to excitement but Megumi told herself she must have been mistaken. Why would he be excited over a situation like this?

"Sakura, who did this to you?" He seemed to grow angrier as he was answered with silence. "Who was it?" He growled, he saw everyone's confused and scared faces staring back at him as he clenched his fist. "Don't worry; it's only the power going though me, in fact, I've never felt better. He gave me this gift, this power, he showed me that I am an avenger and I need to be willing to do anything to gain more power even if it means being consumed by evil. Now tell me, which one of these people did this to you, Sakura?"

'_This isn't Sasuke. What's happening to him?'_ Megumi shook the tears coming to her away as she looked back at Sasuke.

Zaku smiled widely at Sasuke as he answered, "That would be me." Megumi watched from the sidelines as he turned towards Zaku with absolute hatred, from the corner of her eye she saw Kin faint after Ino had returned to her own body and hide with the rest of her team behind some bushes. '_Should I get out of the way? I'm not sure if I'm in danger with Sasuke like this.' _ She gasped as she saw the rest of his body be covered by the strange marks. '_This chakra! It's unreal; no one can beat him like this!" _Her breath shuddered as she saw Zaku use his supersonic wave on Sasuke and his team despite Dosu's pleas to stop.

She cried out as the force of the attack threatened to take her along with the others. All that could be heard afterwards were Zaku's pants as the dust cleared. "What do you know, blew them all away." He laughed.

"Not quite." Before he could react, Sasuke punched Zaku on the side of the head, sending him a few feet away on the ground. While he tried to recover, Sasuke took advantage to quickly send a jutsu, "Fire Style, Phoenix Flower-Jutsu!" Zaku tried to blow out the flames with his slicing sound wave only to uncover shuriken coming at him. He was hit directly and tried again to recover but wasn't quick enough and ended up having his arms caught behind him by Sasuke with his leg on Zaku's back. "You seem to be very proud of these arms of yours, you must be very _attached_ to them."

"Sasuke no!" Megumi's cry went ignored and she covered her ears to muffle the cry of pain Zaku emitted as his arms were broken and pulled from their sockets, severely damaging them. She barely noticed Dosu leave behind his scroll and take his teammates away; she also didn't notice Sasuke coming towards her until his feet were in her eyesight. "Sasu- Ah!"

He grabbed her by the throat and held her to his height. She clawed at his hands and gasped for breath. "S-Sasuke! It- It's me!"

"I know it's you, Megumi. Although, how do I know you aren't an enemy." He stated with a satanic smile as he tightened his grip on her throat. "Why didn't you tell me you were a ninja? What else did you lie about? …Well?" She was losing consciousness when she heard Sakura yell out to him and felt Sasuke loosen his grip.

"No! Don't do it." Megumi gasped for air as she fell to the ground on her side. She turned herself over and could feel the bruises beginning to form on her neck while she still struggled to breathe, the last thing she saw was a trembling and fearful Sasuke staring at her.

…

Megumi eyes fluttered open as she woke up, it was morning and she could smell cooking fish. She sat up straight and looked around. '_Where am I?'_ She looked around and saw that she was on a shore next to a river, but how had she gotten there?

"Hey! You're finally awake!" She looked up to a shirtless Naruto carrying fish, she blushed and looked down, Megumi had never seen a guy shirtless before.

"Uh, N-Naruto. Do you know what day of the exam this is?" Naruto was setting up a place to start a fire when he heard her question.

"Oh, it's day three. You were asleep all day and night yesterday; you must've been really tired."

"Yeah, I need to go. I have to meet up with my team." She started to get up and look around for her things, they were in a neat pile next to Naruto's pile of clothes.

"Go? No, you have to rest more and you have to wait for Sasuke and Sakura so we can eat this fish together. Come on, it's barely morning anyway." He tried to convince her. She needed to meet up with Yuki though, no doubt he had found at least one more scroll and he would he would surely criticize Megumi if she arrived late and empty handed. She thought over her options.

"Alright, I can stay for a little while." She agreed. Why not prolong the inevitable. She was helping Naruto set up the fire pit when they heard the plants move, out came Sasuke carrying pieces of wood and Sakura with a canteen of water.

Sakura smiled at the sight of Megumi awake, '_Thank goodness.' _"Megumi! I was worried about you, I didn't know how to help you."

"That's ok; it was probably just lack of sleep or something." Megumi looked up and saw Sasuke staring at her emotionlessly. As they started cooking the fish the fire began to die down a bit and Megumi volunteered to go get more wood in the forest. She was about to stand up and head back when she heard someone sit down next to her.

"So why didn't you tell me you were a ninja?" She heard Sasuke ask.

She sighed as she looked up him, "Because I'm not really a ninja, I was never really trained in an academy like you. I'm sure you figured out by now that I was part of Zabuza Momochi's team in the land of waves. He saved me from the streets and made me a who I am today, if it weren't for him I probably wouldn't be here." She explained.

"But you're a rouge ninja, the only reason you're not in the Bingo book is because you were never caught. How do I know I can trust you?" He seemed to be telling himself.

"Well, I never did lie to you." She was worried that he might try to hurt her again, she looked towards only to find him looking at her, or more exactly at her neck. She let out a nervous chuckle as she put her hand on her neck. "It doesn't hurt much anymore, so it's fine."

"I'm sorry," He said without moving his eyes.

"Like I said, it's fine." She couldn't meet his eyes; she was embarrassed for some reason. Sasuke sighed looking down at his lap. '_She can't even look at me.'_ He looked back towards her and took out a training scroll and took out a small object from inside.

"I'm still sorry, I don't know why I reacted that way but…look, I want you to have this back." He took her hand and placed the pressed purple flower she had originally given to him. Megumi looked up at him in confusion first, and then smiled towards him as if forgiving him. "You can give it back to me the next time we separate and see each other again; it's like a way to make sure we will stay friends." He was blushing by now, Sasuke Uchiha never said this sort of thing. There was something about Megumi though, something that made him want to stay her friend.

Megumi couldn't remember a time where she smiled wider, '_He doesn't hate me.' _She smiled down at the flower in her hand and looked back at the blushing Sasuke, '_He doesn't hate me!' _She suddenly pounced on him with a hug to the ground. She could hear Sasuke protest from underneath her but she didn't care, she nuzzled the crook of his neck and continued to hug him.

Sasuke had never felt more embarrassed. He had never blushed this much at one time but he had to admit, he sort of liked the attention. He wrapped his arms around her and could barely hear her say "thank you."

…Some time later…

Megumi had left the group shortly after her talk with Sasuke to go on and meet up with Yuki, it was time that they finished with this part of the exam. She stopped a short bit away from where they promised to meet at the tower and quickly did the Shadow Clone-Jutsu and Transformation-Jutsu to bring back Haru. She looked at her creation wistfully, "You're really lucky, you just do as you're told and keep on living for as long as tell you to. No confusing emotions or situations to deal with." She sighed as they both walked towards the gate and sat down to wait for Yuki.

It had been about half an hour when they heard someone land in front of them. "What the heck happened to you?" Megumi looked up at Yuki's confused face looking her over and could see that he had gone through some fights and damage too. She smirked up at him.

"Look who's talking."

**AN:**

**It's been a while, Homework kind of piled up on me which is why I haven't written in a while but that won't be a problem anymore because I'm on spring break! Yay, so prepare yourself for more of my posts.**

**Please Review… and if you do, be kind but review. I want something to read too ^_^**

**-Michelle**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Megumi, Yuki, Haru had been walking through the tower in search of other people. So far, they hadn't found anyone in the hour they had been there.

Yuki stopped walking with a sigh, "Jeez, how much more are they going to make us wait? And where is everyone?" He was obviously frustrated and bored. Megumi sat down on a nearby bench and rubbed her arms for warmth.

"Well it is the third day; maybe the others weren't as lucky as us." She tried to calm him down, but her reasoning seemed to only frustrate him more.

"Yeah, maybe they ran into that weirdo, Orochimaru, you told me about." He stated as he looked at her small wounds. "Or maybe they ran into your little friend Sasuke." He said in a condescending tone as he looked at her bruised neck.

Megumi glared at him and was about to say something in Sasuke's defense when they heard approaching footsteps. She looked up to see the Sand Village team walking by them, Megumi heard Temari speak to the boy, Kankuro but she was focused on the other boy Gaara as he stared back at her.

"Well, it seems more teams are going to start finishing." Stated Temari as she noticed Gaara looking at Megumi.

Kankuro looked at them trying to remember who they were when his eyes flashed with recognition. "I know who you guys are, you two were walking on the fences that day I was trying to teach those brats a lesson." He sat next to Megumi with his arm around her.

Yuki glared at Kankuro and his team. "Yes that was us, I'm Yuki and these are my teammates Megumi and Haru."

Temari looked at Yuki with the same smile and blush she had given Sasuke, "Oh well, I'm Temari and these are my brothers Kankuro and Gaara." Megumi just gave a small smile, '_She must be a sucker for a cute face.'_

"Nice to meet you, now if you'll excuse us we'll be on our way." Yuki maintained his polite mask but inside he knew these people were trouble, especially the one named Gaara, he still hadn't stopped looking at Megumi.

Yuki wasn't sure where he was leading them; he just knew they had to get away from them. Megumi was walking behind them when she suddenly felt a force pull her to the ground with a small yell.

"Gaara stop!" She heard Temari yell. Megumi looked down at her leg and saw sand wrapped around it, she looked towards Gaara and gasped as she saw a strange hunger in his eyes.

"No, I want her blood it'll make me stronger." Megumi could feel herself get pulled towards Gaara but she didn't know what to do. She looked up as Yuki threw kunai towards him but only saw them fall as a wall of sand protected Gaara.

"Stop this now, I know you think this exam is nothing but Temari and I don't want to be disqualified for something like this." Kankuro tried to reason with his younger brother but he was only ignored as he saw the sand reach Megumi's waist. "Gaara!"

She suddenly felt the sand recede from her body and get pulled up from behind by Haru. Gaara's face returned to its blank disposition, "Forgive me, that won't happen again."

She shook at the sound of his voice, '_What just happened? I haven't felt that scared in so long.'_ "I-it's fine, no harm done." Megumi just wanted to leave and knew that despite the abilities she and Yuki possessed, this person had something else that could completely over power them. It reminded her of Naruto's surge of power when they were fighting Orochimaru.

As they left she could still feel Gaara's eyes on her, '_What does he mean he wants my blood?' _ She shivered in fear of what this new acquaintance could bring.

They had been walking for a while longer and still hadn't seen any other teams when they found a strange site. A small dog was walking aimlessly towards them, they looked at it in confusion as it stared back. Suddenly it started barking and jumping, Not knowing what to do Megumi picked it up in hope of getting it to quiet down. "Megumi, just leave the dog." Yuki told her as he walked by her.

Megumi just continued to pet it trying to quiet it down. "Akamaru! Where'd you go?" She heard someone yell, suddenly the boy with a fur laced jacket appeared with the rest of his team. "Hey, you found Akamaru." He pulled the puppy from her arms and put it on the top of his head. "I'm Kiba by the way, this is Shino and this is Hinata." He pointed towards a boy in sunglasses and a girl with short raven colored hair. "And you already know Akamaru."

"Hello, I'm Megumi and this is Yuki and Haru." She introduced, Yuki nodded towards them and couldn't help but look at Hinata.

"Hinata, are you a part of the Hyuga clan?" He asked, he had heard they were the strongest clan in the Leaf and couldn't help but be curious.

Hinata just played with her fingers and seemed to sink into herself as she blushed. "Y-yes, I-I am a Hyuga."

Yuki seemed pleased by the information. "To bad we didn't meet in the forest, it would have been nice to see how great the Hyuga clan really is." Hinata looked at him with a scared face at the proposition of a battle and Kiba and Shino glared at him, Megumi just shook her head, '_I try to make friends and you just have to ruin it'_. "It was nice meeting you." With that said they left looking for a place to get comfortable for the next two days.

….

The second exam had finally ended and Megumi now found herself and the others who passed in some sort of arena. She looked towards the front and could see the Hokage standing next to Anko and all of the team's sensei. 'Hmm_, I didn't count on the team leaders being here, hopefully they don't get suspicious that we don't have one.' _She couldn't help but be surprised at how many teams were left; she was more surprised at the fact that she knew them all too some extent except for one team. They all wore glasses and seemed to be hiding something. '_I'm just being paranoid.' _

Anko stepped up and called for their attention, "Alright now listen up! Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you, you better pay attention, maggots."

The Hokage cleared his throat before he spoke, "Before I tell you what the third exam involves, I want to explain something about the test itself. Why do you suppose this country holds these exams in conjunction with its allies? To raise the ability levels of the shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations to be sure. But the exams are so to speak," He breathed out a puff of smoke from the pipe he had in his mouth, "they are representations of the battles between allied nations, part of the point of these exams is to select shinobi worthy of being Chunnin, the other is to carry the pride of their nation on their backs and fight for their lives."

'_This old man is crazy, he calls this a way of increasing friendship and then tells us to fight for our lives.'_ Megumi thought.

"Any exam is fine, just get on with the details of the next exam already." Gaara stated, Megumi couldn't help but shiver in fear at the sound of his voice.

"Very well then, here are the details of the third exam," Before he could start another Leaf ninja appeared in front of him and asked to speak first.

"It's nice to meet you all; I am your third proctor Hayate Gekko." He coughed, "There is something I would like for you to do before the next exam." He coughed heavily before he spoke next. "Uhh, we have to have a preliminary exam before the real one. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to make it. According to the rules, we are allowed to do this to reduce numbers. So if you're not feeling in top physical condition now's the chance to-" He had another coughing fit and everyone looked on with skepticism on their faces, was this really their proctor? "Sorry about that, as I was saying; anyone not feeling up for this now is your chance to bow out. The preliminaries will be starting immediately."

The room filled with disapproval and complaints. Yuki looked back at Megumi while she nodded in understanding. '_This is our chance to get Haru to forfeit, then I'll finally be able to use my chakra without worrying.' _She thought with a sigh of relief.

"Oh yeah, the winner will be determined by one on one combat so like I said; now's the chance to leave if you don't feel up to it." From the corner of her eye, she could see Sasuke and Sakura speaking and she noticed Sasuke holding his shoulder, '_He must be in pain and Sakura wants him to quit. Is it bad that I kinda want him to quit too?' _She could see Sakura starting to raise her hand when another person beat her to it.

"Ok, you got me I'm out."

Hayate coughed as he looked for his name on the list, "Uh, Kabuto Yakushi of the Leaf Village, your free to go please step out."

While Naruto argued with Kabuto over his forfeting, Yuki found the opportunity to finally speak. "Our teammate, Haru from the Mist Village would also like to leave."

"Alright, Haru you're also free to go." As Haru left Megumi kept her eyes on her creation, she would undo the jutsu five minutes from now, in that time Haru should have made it back to their hotel room and she wouldn't have to worry anymore. The proctor coughed to get back their attention, "Now then does anybody else wanna quit? No, alright then. There are 22 of you right now, that means there will be 11 matches, as for the rules there are none. You will fight until someone dies or is unable to continue, of course as proctor I will have some leeway and will be able to stop a battle if it looks hopeless."

The Hokage watched as the Gennin were spoken to, he looked towards the Mist ninjas and called Anko's attention. "Who are those ninja?" he asked.

Anko looked through her papers, "Uh Megumi and Yuki, they are Gennin from the Mist Village, normal stats, normal grades in the academy over there, is there a problem?" She asked in confusion.

The third Hokage let out another puff of smoke, "Yes, I recently sent a message to the Mizukage asking if he would be sending Gennin this year. He said no." Anko gasped at the revelation. "For now, we will let them continue the exam I'm curious as to what they are doing here, remind to speak with them after all this."

As he finished talking, a panel on the wall opened to reveal a screen. They were explained to that the screen would reveal the pair that would be fighting completely at random. They waited in anticipation for the first two ninjas to battle, the screen revealed; Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado.

Megumi moved up the stairs with the others and couldn't help but look towards Sasuke in worry, he was obviously in pain and she wanted to help somehow. "I'm sure he'll be fine." She looked up to see Naruto consoling Sakura next to her; she somehow knew that it was for her too.

The battle began with Sasuke and Yoroi both throwing ninja tools at each other in order to avoid being hit but Sasuke fell to the ground in pain from his curse mark. Yoroi suddenly appeared in front of Sasuke and punched the ground with his chakra as Sasuke rolled away from the attack. Sasuke then took advantage by stabbing a knife on the ground to be able to kick Yoroi onto the ground into a hold he couldn't move out of.

Megumi let herself smile as she watched, he might be able to do this. Before she could get her hopes up though, Yoroi brought his hand to the front of Sasuke's shirt and seemed to have frozen him in that position and jumped away from him. It was as if he lost all his energy.

"Sasuke no!" Sakura yelled, and almost as if he heard it, he sat up but couldn't avoid Yoroi's direct grab for his head. Megumi could tell from the upper deck that Yoroi's attack was eating away at Sasuke's chakra to the point of exhaustion, this wasn't going to end well if he didn't get up soon.

Somehow he was able to kick his enemy off of him and barely stand up again. As Yoroi continued to go after Sasuke with his fist, Sasuke was barely able to dodge each attack.

"Really? Is that the best you can do, Uchiha." He taunted. In a flash, it looked like Sasuke had gotten an idea. "I'll teach you to turn your back on me." Yoroi kept going after Sasuke with the same attacks and for a while it seemed as if that was as far as it would go until Sasuke disappeared and kicked him into the air and appeared behind him.

'_Wait, this is that guy Lee's jutsu. When did Sasuke see it?' _Megumi asked herself. She gasped as Sasuke cried out in pain while in the air. The mark was spreading threw his body again and it seemed to be more painful. Almost as suddenly as it appeared, the curse mark receded and Sasuke started his real attack. He spun Yoroi towards his kick but was only blocked, he smirked as he saw an opening to punch him in the chest and then kick him straight into the ground. "Lions Barage!"

Hayate went over to Yoroi's body but could clearly see he was done for. "I declare this match over, Sasuke Uchiha will continue into the finals." The only thing that broke through the silence were Naruto's cheers and taunts towards Sasuke. Yuki looked on with his serious expression. '_So this is the power of the Uchiha. He might have won but it was pure luck, then again what's a ninja without a little.' _Megumi looked towards Sasuke as his sensei took him away to be taken cared over, she was glad he won but was still nervous about the mark on his neck.

The proctor coughed once again, "Let's move onto the second match." They all looked towards the screen to see who was next. It randomized their names and revealed; Zaku Abumi vs. Megumi. "Step forward please." He coughed.

Megumi began to climb over the railing when Yuki stopped her, "Don't be afraid to finish this creep. After everything you told me about him, it would be the least he deserves." She nodded and jumped down in front of him.

Zaku laughed as he saw her, "So you're Megumi, I don't know why Dosu couldn't finish you off but I don't think I'll be having the same problem."

Megumi just stared with an emotionless face, "Seeing as though both your arms are broken I don't think you should be talking." She could hear Naruto cheering her on and giving her encouragement, she blushed in embarrasement. '_Shut up Naruto, how embarrassing.'_

"Heh, well what do you know. I got a little movement in one of them." Zaku took out one of his arms from his sling and showed it to her.

'_Darn it, I might have gotten away with not using my Kekkei Genkai last time, but this time I might not be so lucky.'_

**AN:**

**C'mon people, please review. I am in dire need of them! **

**-Michelle **

**TT_TT**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Zaku stared at Megumi with a smile as he stretched his arm a bit. "Who shouldn't be talking?" He ran towards her and Megumi quickly made the signs for a jutsu but had to stop in order to block his hit. "Gotcha. Slicing Sound Wave!" he released his attack fully on her and a cloud of smoke and dust engulfed them. "Well, you had enough. Wha-?"

As the dust and smoke cleared away all that could be seen was a puddle of water on the ground. He growled as he stared at the water. "A Water Clone-Jutsu huh? Where are you?" He yelled as he looked around. Suddenly, Megumi began to crawl her way out of the puddle leaving some water behind as it dripped from her when she stood up.

"Hmph, so what? I got other things up my sleeve." With that said Megumi dodged the first few shuriken only to be hit by another kunai but she just burst into water again. "Another water clone, are you borrowing moves from your pink friend? Where are you now?"

"Right in front you. Water Style: Water Whip-Jutsu." As she suddenly appeared in front of him a whip formed in her hand made of water that she used to entangle him.

"Think your fast huh, but you only got one arm and I think my other arm is starting to come around." He pulled his other arm from his sling and quickly did away with another water clone and the whip with his sound wave. "Alright this is getting old, the real you better come out now."

"Water Style: Water Prison-Jutsu!" He suddenly gasped as he was engulfed in water. The real Megumi was holding Zaku prisoner inside of her water prison. "I'll admit, I did borrow some things from Sakura but everything else is all me. You might think you're fast and that the speed of sound can somehow make you unbeatable but, unfortunately for you, through my eyes, you appear to be moving in slow motion."

Zaku tried with all his strength to get out of the water but he couldn't. "I wouldn't try that if I were you, this prison is harder than steel, I was lucky you walked into my trap. This whole time with you destroying my water techniques was just a ploy to get you to spread enough water around here to form this prison, thanks for that." Megumi stated with a smile. Zaku tried using his Slicing Sound Wave but all that came up was bubbles. "I wouldn't try that either, sound under water gets muffled and in a big enough form of water it shrinks the vibrations turning them into small bubbles. I guess I should finish you off."

After she finished speaking she used one hand to make the signs for her water clones. Two Megumis crawled out of the water and pulled their katanas from their backs while Megumi kept Zaku in place. As they walked closer Megumi smirked at the look of fear in his eyes, her clones suddenly released an unrelenting attack on Zaku that she allowed to break through her jutsu.

Hayate stepped forward after the attack and checked to make sure Zaku was still alive. He couldn't believe how the boy could possibly still be breathing; he could see that Megumi was ruthless but careful that she didn't kill him. '_Who is this girl?'_ "Winner is Megumi, she will be moving on to the next round."

As Megumi walked up to her place she couldn't help but feel guilty, she had let her old self take over for a bit. _'I almost killed him, then again he did deserve it. No, I can't think like this.' _She fought with herself. Yuki just gave her a nod and a slight smile as she stood next to him again.

She felt like someone was staring at her and looked to her left to find most of the leaf ninja looking at her. She blushed under their gaze. "If I'm not mistaken, you two must be Zabuza's other protégés. I must say, your Kekkei Genkai was remarkable Megumi."

Naruto suddenly appeared next to them too, "Wait, you have a Kekkei Genkai too? Wow what's it called?" He said with excitement.

"Uh I-"

"She doesn't know Naruto, Megumi is from a dead clan and I'm sure she doesn't even know her last name. What her eyes can do though, is slow down an enemy's movements in her eyes which helps her pick her next move faster in turn making her faster. Her ability can also help her control water better, I'm sure she must be as powerful as the boy from the land of waves, yes?" Kakashi informed them.

"Haku and yes I like to think I'm as good as him." She answered. Next to them Neji was having his own thoughts about her, '_A blood-line trait. So that was how she was able to act quickly, hers doesn't seem to have a distinct look though, her eyes stay the same. How interesting.' _They looked back in time to see the third match with Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi begin and seemed to quickly end as Kankuro found himself trapped by Misumi's elastic body.

Everyone looked on in shock as they heard Kankuro's neck snap. Megumi jumped when she saw his face fall to pieces and then turn towards Misumi as wooden arms sprouted and wrapped around him and Kankuro appeared from the bindings on the ground controlling it. '_A puppet, but when did they switch?' _

Kankuro continued to tighten the hold he had on Misumi with his puppet until he cried out in pain. "I give! Stop!" It was obvious to everyone who had won the match and waited for the nest one.

"Well that was quick." She heard Yuki state next to her.

"I have a feeling some of these battles are going to be a bit uneven in terms of ability." She answered.

"Doesn't mean they can't at least try to make it more interesting." She just laughed at his reasoning. She looked back at the screen and could see that Sakura Haruno was up against Ino Yamanaka. She looked in Sakura's direction and could see the surprise on her face. '_I wonder how she'll do.'_ She could hear their teams talking about how it would turn out to be them to fight and couldn't help but feel more curiosity. As they began to battle they seemed to only want to use hand to hand combat.

"That's it, that's as good as kunoichi can get at hand to hand combat?" She couldn't help but be a little angry at Neji's statement but quickly recovered as she heard his female teammate speak.

"It's not just because they're girls Neji, it's because they're using kit gloves, besides you did just see a kunoichi win the last round right?" She defended, Neji grunted in reply but Megumi still sent a smile in the girls direction that she returned. The battle seemed to be going nowhere fast when Ino suddenly slapped Sakura.

"These two, they want to fight but they don't want to hurt each other severely. What's going on with them?" Megumi asked herself.

"Since I've known them, they seemed to have a great hatred for each other, sadly the object of their hatred is the object of their desires. They're fighting for Sasuke." Stated Kakashi. Megumi gasped at the revelation, '_All this hatred, for Sasuke?'_ She thought sadly. Sakura suddenly broke the silence that had swept over the arena.

"Listen up; I'm not going to fight you over Sasuke. You're not even on my radar, you're not his type Ino-Pig!" She yelled, Megumi couldn't help but sweat drop, '_Way to not fight for Sasuke, Sakura.' _ She heard Ino growl and couldn't help but think that things were finally going to get serious as they adjusted their headbands on their foreheads. Once both were done they quickly went back to fighting, Sakura used a regular clone jutsu that she enhanced with a burst of speed which allowed her to hit Ino to the ground.

Not wanting to be outdone, Ino went after Sakura with a punch and Sakura went after Ino with her own. They were evenly matched and the battle went on with one countering the other. Yuki just sighed, "It's been 10 minutes already! At this rate, this match will never end." Megumi just looked on with interested eyes, '_He's right, the proctor might just come in and stop the fight.' _

They were both frustrated as they equally hit each other, "I guess you're right Ino, your obsession with your looks can't be surpassed." Sakura taunted.

Ino groweled as she took out another kunai, "You're going to pay for that! I'm sick of you making fun of me." She shocked everyone as she cut her hair and threw it towards Sakura. "See! I don't need this!" Megumi over heard as Ino's team spoke about how she lost it, she looked back and could see Ino making a sign towards Sakura.

"The Mind Transfer-Jutsu, interesting but it won't work. This girl is out of her mind if she thinks it'll will." She heard Yuki state. Megumi looked towards him in confusion, silently asking him what he meant, "The jutsu is used for spying and moves very slowly, in combat she would have to make sure her enemy is hit but during one on one matches like this, she's just asking to lose." Megumi remembered back to when she saw Ino use it last, when the body she was in got hurt her body got hurt too. '_Sounds dangerous for her.'_

Sakura started running to avoid her attack, "Ninja Art: Mind Transfer-Jutsu!" After Ino released her jutsu, they both froze and Ino's body slumped to the ground. Everybody looked on in anticipation to see if the jutsu had worked.

"What an unfortunate choice, Ino. You're done." Sakura said, as she tried to walk forward she struggled and looked down to see that she was entangled in hair with chakra flowing through it.

"You fell for it Sakura." Ino spoke from her spot. Megumi looked on in surprise, '_I honestly didn't think these two could be this good. But looks can be deceiving; Ino fooled her into thinking she used the jutsu in order to have her walk into her hair that she wove chakra into. She might still have a chance after all.' _ This time when Ino used the jutsu, they could tell it worked as Sakura raised her head with Ino's look on her face. As Sakura raised her hand to forfeit they heard Naruto protest.

"No don't do it Sakura! You worked so hard, you can't just throw it all away." As if his voice triggered something, Ino inside of Sakura grabbed her head and started yelling in pain as she released the jutsu and returned to her body. After they both recovered from the jutsu they went after each other running with fists ready to hit each other.

Almost as if in slow motion, they both punched each other and were sent skidding on the floor with their headbands landing next to them as they fainted.

Hayate looked at the both waiting for one of them to stand, but they were out cold. "By double knock out, neither combatant will continue on to the next battle. This match is over." Megumi watched as their sensei placed Sakura and Ino back on the top level and be surrounded by their friends. '_They really didn't hold back.' _

They all looked towards the screen to see who would be next to fight and saw Ten Ten vs. Temari. Megumi looked towards Sakura as she saw her walk towards the railing; she walked towards her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Sakura, want to come with me to the bathroom, I can clean those wounds for you."

"O-oh, alright." They were watched with confusion as they left the arena. They sat on a bench outside the bathroom and Sakura couldn't help but look at Megumi in confusion. Megumi just gave her a small smile as she took out an ointment from her holster.

"You did really well in that battle, Sakura. It's sad that you tide with Ino." Sakura looked down as she felt the ointment get placed on her wounds.

"But I didn't win."

"Doesn't mean you weren't good. If you don't mind me asking, why do you Ino not like each other?" Megumi asked.

Sakura looked up at her, surprised by the question and then gave her a smile saying she didn't mind. "Ino and I, we used to be friends. She's the one that gave me confidence and helped me be who I am today. The reason we don't really see eye to eye is because I found out she liked Sasuke and I like Sasuke." Sakura waited for her reaction but didn't expect what she heard.

"That's it? Because of Sasuke, you lost your closest friend? That's really weird; then again you both really like him." Megumi mused.

"Well, it's worse than it sounds ok. She's my rival, I couldn't stay her friend. Besides she always thought she was better than me and calls me Billboard Brow." Sakura was pouting as she spoke. Megumi looked at her with a small smirk.

"So what would you do if I told you I like Sasuke?" Sakura gasped as she looked at Megumi.

"Y-you like him too?"

"Of course I do, he is one of my closest friends." She responded with a smile.

Sakura let a breath of relief. "Oh, I thought you really liked him like Ino and I."

"Well, what would you have done if I did?" Megumi asked again as they both looked at each other.

"I'm not sure. I think I would stay friends with you, and just kept liking him." Sakura said to herself. Megumi was confused, if Sakura wanted to stay friends with Megumi, then what happened with Ino?

"That's nice to know, I wouldn't want a boy to come between us." She laughed.

Sakura laughed too but her smile switched to one of sadness. "You know, during my battle I kept thinking back to when Ino and I were younger. We were inseparable, and she always protected me from bullies and taught me new things, now look at us. Then again, if it weren't for our rivalry I probably wouldn't be this way."

Mehumi just stared at her, she didn't really get the answers she wanted but at least now she felt closer to Sakura. "We should go back before we miss the rest of the matches."

As they made it back to their teams Megumi could see Naruto and a coughing Kiba. "Yuki, what did I miss?" Yuki looked back at Megumi as she stood next to him.

"Hmm, well you missed that Sand kunoichi, Temari, fully beat that girl Ten Ten, and that guy Shikamaru won by knocking that girl Kin in the head. Now Naruto is fighting with that dog guy Kiba. The most you missed in this fight is that Naruto farted in Kiba's face." He said.

Megumi just looked at him with a confused face, "It's incredible how casually you can say that."

**An:**

**Please. Pretty Pretty Please! Review!**

**-Michelle**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Megumi tried not to laugh as Kiba kept covering his face, '_That must've smelled bad for him.'_ Naruto was preparing for a move as he created four clones and surrounded Kiba.

"Time for my new move!" He went straight to Kiba and hit him with a direct hit to the face and had one of his clones jump from his back and into the air. While the clone went into the air, the real Naruto and his other clones also kicked Kiba into the air where he received a direct kick to the face. "Naruto Uzumaki Barage!"

The proctor coughed as he checked Kiba. "The winner is Naruto Uzumaki." All of his friends cheered as they heard the conclusion.

Yuki couldn't help but smirk, "He might've won, but it was by using a variation of that guy Sasuke's attack. Still good though."

Megumi looked towards Naruto with a happy smile. "Isn't a good ninja one who learns from their environment?" Yuki just gave her a small laugh as he looked for the next match.

"Huh, a Hyuga vs a Hyuga; this should be the most interesting fight so far." Megumi turned to see what Yuki was talking about and saw that Hinata was now up against Neji, from personalities alone she could tell that this fight was not even and was worried for Hinata. She cringed as she heard the proctor call them forward.

As the fight was about to begin Megumi could hear Naruto yelling out encouragements to Hinata and winced at the volume, '_He sounds so loud, I wish he would lower his voice a bit.'_

"Hey Megumi, you alright." She grabbed her ears as Yuki's voice hit her ears. '_What's going on? Everything sounds so loud!' _She fell to her knees grabbing her ears in pain and could hear people calling her name which only added to the pain. As she looked up at their faces she couldn't seem to focus and was caught by someone as she fell to her side. She cried out in pain when a loud ringing hit her ears and fainted.

…

Megumi opened her eyes to a white ceiling; she sat up and looked around in confusion not knowing where she was. '_I better not start making a habit out of this.'_ She looked next to her and found Yuki looking at her worriedly in a chair next to her bed.

"Morning."

"Yuki, what happened? Where am I?" She tried to get out of bed but was pushed back down by Yuki.

"Don't get up, you still have to rest. Anyway, you fainted back at the arena. The doctors say that an attack Zaku send at you that you dodged might have still done damage to you, the vibrations in the sound wave just took longer to reach the sensitive part of your ear. Add to the fact that you were pretty tired from all the nonstop action, your body just couldn't take it anymore." He passed her a glass of water as he spoke that she gulped down immediately.

She looked towards the bedside table and saw a vase filled with a few flowers. "I didn't think you were one to get me flowers." She smiled at Yuki.

"I'm not, Naruto and Sakura got those for you."Yuki answered with a frown, Megumi knew he wasn't very fond of her Leaf Village friends but knew he would come around soon; hopefully.

"Well, what did I miss? How was your match?" She asked with curiosity.

Yuki just gave her a smirk. "What match? The minute they were taking you away I wanted to follow, they told me though that if I left I was basically forfeiting, and I told that coughing guy that I was completely fine with that." Megumi looked at him in disbelief.

"But why? I know you could have won."

"That's the thing, I wanted to make sure you were ok. You're the closest thing I have left to family, so why should I be more worried about a match when you were in an infirmary?" Megumi couldn't help the tears in her eyes; not only was Yuki acknowledging her as family, but he was showing that he really cared about her well being. "Hey don't start crying! What did I do?"

She wiped her tears with a smile, "Nothing, now tell me who else won."

"Well from what I heard, seeing as though I didn't fight, this weird guy named Shino went on to the next round, and this guy named Choji was literally blown away by Dosu and his sound waves. I also heard that Neji actually tried to kill his cousin Hinata with the Byakugan."

Megumi gasped at the news, "Is she alright?"

"Not sure, she went into cardiac arrest and obviously lost her match." Yuki said as he played with a piece of his hair. "Oh yeah, Gaara also won." The mere mention of his name sent shivers down Megumi's spine. "Naruto told me that they pretty much destroyed the arena with their battle, he said that Rock Lee actually opened five of the eight inner gates."

"He what? And he still lost, but how?" Megumi knew of the eight inner gates, in the simplest terms, they allowed a ninja's strength and ability to multiply tenfold and acted as chakra limiters.

"Gaara's sand managed to cushion most of the blows, but still damaged him. Unfortunately for Lee he ran out of power and Gaara was able to catch him in his sand and crush his arm and leg." Megumi looked at Yuki in disbelief as he continued to play with his hair. "That's not the worst part though, because the wounds in his arm and leg were so bad, Lee's days of being a ninja are over.

Megumi was shocked. She thought back to when Gaara had her trapped in his sand and couldn't help but think that Lee was lucky to be alive. "That's terrible, I wonder how he feels."

"Well, everyone who's still recovering from their matches was moved to this hospital. Maybe you can go see them later if they're still here." Yuki suggested, in all honesty though he didn't really want her out of his sight especially with Gaara and even Sasuke out there, '_I won't let them hurt her again.'_ He clenched his hands as he looked back at Megumi. "Oh yeah, they told us about the next part of the exam."

Megumi put down the apple she had found next her bed and looked at Yuki in anticipation. "Well, what are they?" She asked excitedly.

"Heh, well basically you got paired up in a fight with that guy Dosu. You also have a month to train and get better. That's pretty much the important stuff." He said as he leaned back on his chair.

'_Train and get better, I doubt I need it then again there is always room for improvement.'_ She looked out her window and could see that it was still early morning. "When do you think I can get out of here?" She asked.

"Well that depends on you. The doctors said they want you here for a few more days, but we've never really been the type of people who follow rules." He answered with a knowing smile. Megumi smirked back at him as she got out of bed to get her things, they would leave the hospital that day and later she would start training. "You think we'll get in trouble for sneaking you out like this?"

"Really Yuki, you get my hopes up for leaving this place and then feel guilty? Besides you're not the one who will get in trouble." Megumi said as they climbed out the window.

"True, and I don't have to train either, I get a nice vacation." He was openly making fun of her and Megumi couldn't help but think he was right. '_Lucky bastard.'_

_One Month Later_

Megumi was sitting on the hotel window sill looking at the moon. She had been training nonstop the past month and was finally able to rest and stay in the night before the third exam. The only problem was that Yuki decided that would be the night he would explore the village and visit the festival that was occurring in honor of the Chunnin Exams so now she was all alone and bored. She never was much of a people person though, and besides her mind was still stuck on the events she witnessed in the hospital earlier that day.

She had been walking towards Lee's room in the hopes of maybe making him feel better and get to know him. She didn't expect what she found behind the door though. Megumi had unintentionally walked in on a standoff between Naruto, Shikamaru, and Gaara, and walked in hearing Naruto state that he had a real demon inside him.

"It seems we have another visitor. All the same I still plan on killing you all." Gaara drawled. Megumi gasped as she was pulled into the room by sand around her waist and could only tremble as she heard the door close. She could see the shocked and slightly fearful faces of Naruto and Shikamaru as they kept their eyes on Gaara. "Now where was I, my demon is as real as yours is."

'_Demon, what is he talking about?' _Megumi looked towards Lee and could see his body was covered in sand.

"My upbringing was not what most would call a happy one. My unborn self was infused with a sand spirit. I destroyed the life of the woman who gave birth to me. I was born a monster." Megumi couldn't help but gasp, '_A sand spirit, what kind of person would do that to their child?' _Almost as if reading her mind Gaara bega explaining. "Its name is Shukaku, it is the living incarnation of a monk form the Sand Village who got sealed up in a jar of tea.

"Gee what a swell guy your dad must have been, he must have really loved you a lot." Shikamaru said sarcastically. Megumi turned towards him in fear. What was the point in making him mad when he was already threatening to kill them?

He just continued to stare at them with an emotionless face. "You speak of love, don't measure me by your standards. Love, family," He growled. "The only emotional ties I have with my family are the ones I want to wrap around their necks and are only ties of hate. Brought by the death of my mother I was told to bring the village's salvation. My father taught me the inner most secrets of shinobi, he pampered and protected me, left me to myself; for a time I thought that was love. And that's when everything started."

"When what started?" Megumi quietly asked out of curiosity. Gaara stayed silent seeming to not want to answer as he looked at the ground.

Naruto grew impatient, "Well? Are you gonna tell us or not?"

He started to smile as he looked up at them. "In the six years since I became six years old, my father tried to destroy me more times than I can count."

Shikamaru managed to recover from his look of fear and looked at Gaara in frustration. "You just told us about how much your father pampered you, so which is it?"

"Those who get to be too strong, are to become feared. The jutsu unbalanced something in my mind, even the fools in the village finally realized I had emotional problems. My father, the Kazekage, began to realize I was a threat to the very village I was created to protect. By the age of six I became a symbol of fear." He seemed to almost want to laugh at his situation. "So you see I had failed at the one purpose for which I was given life, why go on living? Then I found the answer, my reason for living was in the killing of others."

Megumi was knocked out of her thoughts as she heard the villagers in the streets below started cheering. She pulled her knees up to her chest as she looked back at the stars, '_Is it bad that I used to think that way? When I was alone I really thought I had to destroy my village in order to avenge my family. He's felt my pain, but he's felt it so much stronger than I have, poor Gaara.' _She couldn't help but pity him, she was saved from her mind by Haku and the others but Gaara; he had to figure out his own answer and this is what he found.

"What are you thinking about so strongly?" She looked up at the mystery voice and felt her eyes widen.

"Sasuke." She watched as he sat next to her on the window sill looking at the stars. "So you came back in time for the third exam, I sort of thought you were going to be late."

"Hmph, you still haven't told me what you were thinking about." He said as he smirked at her.

She noticed his hair looked longer and reached to play with the end of a piece. "For your information I was thinking about something that guy Gaara said today. I think you need a haircut." She felt him grab her hand from his hair and turned to look at him.

"What did he say?" he said ominously. She just smirked at him as she took back her hand.

"It doesn't matter, I've been trying to make sense of it these past few hours and have come up with nothing. So where did you go? I tried visiting you in the hospital and you were gone." She said with a drowsy voice.

"Hn, I needed to start my training so I went out to look for Kakashi. Now go to bed, you need to rest for tomorrow." He looked at her and realized she was softly snoring against his shoulder, Sasuke smirked as he carried her inside and placed her to bed. He looked back at the dark sky and was lost in his own thoughts. '_I should have time to train before the exam starts.'_

**AN:**

**Sorry for the delay, I was facing a bit of writer's block and was preparing to buy Comic Con tickets. Awesome news is I got the tickets so I am very excited about that. **

**You know what would make my day awesomer…. Some reviews ^_^**

**-Michelle**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Hey Shikamaru, where's Sasuke and Megumi?" Naruto whispered to Shikamaru.

"How should I know, that guy Dosu isn't here either." They looked around for their missing friends as they stood in the arena.

"Hey, knock it off! Stand up straight and present yourself to the spectators." After their new proctor finished speaking they looked up towards the stands and heard the crowd start to cheer for them. "You guys are the heroes of this final competition. Oh, there's one more thing before we get started." He took out a sheet of paper and held it up to them. "Look it over, there's been a slight change in the lineup but now it's set so everyone take a good look at who you'll be facing."

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he looked at his name, '_So that Dosu guy dropped out. What a drag, now I have to fight an extra battle against Megumi. …Where is she?' _He looked towards Naruto as he raised his hand.

"Question! I- well, I was just wondering what would happen to Sasuke and Megumi. I-I mean if they don't show up." The fact that his match was about to start and the stress that his two friends weren't there had Naruto stuttering.

The proctor folded and put away the match up list as he spoke to them. "If a candidate isn't in the arena at the time that his or her name is called, they forfeit the match. Alright let's start."

_Meanwhile In The Village._

Yuki was in the kitchen of their room drinking tea and reading his book when he heard a loud thud in the bedroom. He put down his book ready for what would come next.

"Yuki! Why didn't you wake me up?" Megumi burst through the kitchen door with shaggy hair and a look that could kill. Yuki just went back to his book and took a sip from his tea.

"You looked so peaceful sleeping I didn't want to wake you." He said with his stoic yet sarcastic voice.

"Liar!" He heard her yell as she ran back to her room to get ready. "How embarrassing! I'm going to be late!"

He sighed as Megumi continued to whine. "Don't freak out, I didn't want to have to wait and watch all the other battles, besides you're match isn't till the very end anyway. It's not like they'll push your match up, you don't have that much bad luck." By this time he had started getting ready knowing that they were going to leave soon.

Megumi ran out of the bedroom struggling to get her katana over her head. "You don't know how bad my luck can get. Now let's go." She dragged him out of the room and started running towards the arena. '_I better not get disqualified for this.'_

They were running and jumping through the village and its buildings when Megumi and Yuki heard a not so happy crowd up ahead. "We must be close to the arena, and by the sound of things the matches must not be going well." She heard Yuki call to her.

When they came to the front of the arena gates they saw two ninjas in front of them. "You two, the spectator's entrance is in the other direction." One of them said.

"That's nice to know but Megumi, right here, is part of the competition." Yuki pulled her towards them so that they could see her. Their eyes widened as they saw her.

"You better get to the viewing area with the others, your match is up next and you don't want to get disqualified. Go through those stairs, it will lead you directly to the others." They went towards where they were pointed and started sprinting. '_Yuki I'll kill you for jinxing my luck!' _ She thought with a glare, Yuki just gave her an innocent smile.

Megumi was running as fast as she could up the stairs when she saw a flash of blonde hair and sunlight in front of her. "Naruto!"

He turned and saw Megumi behind him and Yuki close by trying to catch his breath. "Megumi, you made it right on time! Your match is next, where were you?"

She couldn't help another glare she sent towards Yuki, "Yuki didn't wake me up in time so I spent most of the morning scrambling to get here. Um, how is my match next anyway? I didn't think I was that late."

"Well, after I won my match Sasuke's match was postponed, that guy Dosu never showed up and Kankuro dropped out, and Shikamaru is now next." Naruto explained to them.

Megumi was confused, Sasuke was allowed more time, her opponent forfeited, and she still had to fight. "Wait; then who am I going up against? And where's Shikamaru?"

"Well, that depends on the next battle. It'll either be Temari or Shikamaru, as for where he is…well." He just pointed down the railing and Megumi and Yuki could see Shikamaru lying on his back on the arena glaring at everything in his eyesight. "I gave him a bit of a push in the right direction, heh heh."

She felt bad for Shikamaru as she saw the crowd throw trash in his direction and could see Temari smirking at him.

"Come on Shikamaru! You gonna get it going this year?" Naruto yelled from beside her. She looked towards the battle and could see Temari begin the battle with a full on frontal attack.

"Man, I hate spunkiness in girls." While it looked like he was directly hit, the smoke cleared and revealed Shikamaru standing on two kunai that were stuck on the wall with his hands in his pockets. "I guess I shouldn't let myself get beat by a female, so I'll put in a bit of effort. So, let's do it."

Megumi couldn't help but be more than a little mad at his comment but decided to keep supporting him, '_Even if I don't like what he said.'_ Temari angrily glared at him and used her fan to attack him again only to reveal that he disappeared.

Naruto leaned forward against the railing as he looked for Shikamaru. "Where'd he go? C'mon get your butt in gear Shikamaru! Let's go!"

Temari's glare intensified as she saw him come out from behind the trees grinning. "Ninja Art: Wind Scythe-Jutsu!" Megumi covered her face as the wind reached their area with the same intensity, as she looked back she could see Temari jumping away from a shadow. '_His Shadow Possession-Jutsu, he must have found an opening.' _Her eyes widened as she saw it stop short and retreat.

"Tch, he was so close to getting her." Megumi muttered to herself. Shikamaru seemed to stop and start to think as he placed his hands together, he soon looked up with his signature scowl as he seemed to finish.

Temari just smirked at the look he gave her, "So you have a fighting spirit after all. Take this!" She unleashed another wind scythe attack and looked on as he hid again. "There's no use running!" Megumi could tell from her spot that she was losing her patience as she unleashed yet another attack. Suddenly, three kunai came hurdling in Temari's direction distracting her from the shadow going after her, she saw it at the last second and managed to dodge it again.

"Hmm, I wonder who you're going to end up fighting Megumi." Yuki said next to her.

Megumi looked back at him with a smile, "The way things are going, I wouldn't mind going up against either. They would both be a nice challenge."

"Temari above you!" She turned in the direction Kankuro had yelled out and could see a parachute made out of Shikamaru's jacket flying above Temari, allowing his shadow to further stretch. It was stopped again as it reached its limit but Temari froze into the same position as Shikamaru

Shikamaru was smiling as he looked at Temari's shocked face. "Well my Shadow Possession finally worked. Took long enough."

"How the heck did he do that?" Kankuro muttered. Megumi couldn't help but be curious too until she saw Shikamaru let Temari look behind her and saw a hole.

"A hole, but from where?" She asked herself. Almost as if he heard her Shikamaru started to answer her question.

"It's from Naruto's battle when he knocked Neji into a loop, the other one in front of you is connected to that one. I just needed you in the right position to catch you in my trap." He moved towards her which in turn made Temari move towards him and raised his hand making her raise her hand. "…Ok that's it, I give up."

There was a silence in the crowd as they let the news sink in. Megumi couldn't help but look at him with wide confused eyes. "H-he, he gave up?" She asked as she turned towards Yuki, he just nodded with his own shocked look. Soon the whole arena started to protest and become angry.

"I used up all my chakra in that last jutsu, I'm good for another ten seconds. Bummer, and here I already had the next 200 moves planned in my head." Shikamaru explained. "Anyway, if I was to win this thing it would just mean more work."

"The winner is Temari, she will now proceed into her next battle against Megumi." The proctor said as he looked towards Megumi's direction. As she jumped down to their level she could see Temari looked especially frustrated at herself.

"Proctor, I want to forfeit the next match." She said angrily. Megumi looked towards her in surprise as she walked back to the viewing area.

"Uh, alright…Megumi wins this match by default." The proctor announced. "You can head back now." He told her, she nodded towards him but stayed behind with Naruto and Shikamaru waiting for Sasuke. The proctor looked up from his watch and frowned. "Alright the time limit is up, Sasuke Uchiha is-" He stopped talking as he noticed a few leaves fall and smirked.

Soon a whirlwind of leaves was in the middle of the arena and dispersed to reveal Sasuke and Kakashi. "Sorry we're late, you wouldn't believe the traffic." Kakashi said with an innocent smile. The proctoer gave them a knowing look.

"Like master like pupil, even down to your lousy sense of time."

"Heh, and here I was betting you wouldn't make it Sasuke, cause sooner or later you'd have to face me." Naruto taunted with a smile.

Sasuke looked towards Naruto with a smirk. "What about you? Did you win?"

"You know it!"

"Hmph, well don't let it go to your head you're still a loser." Megumi couldn't help but giggle at their banter, it was a moment she knew she would want to remember. "Megumi," She looked towards him as he called her. "I heard about what this guy Gaara said to you." Her eyes widened at his words. "I'll make sure to beat him so he won't threaten you again." She smiled at him and turned towards Naruto and Shikamaru who were already headed to the viewing area.

She caught up to them and linked her arms with theirs. "So why'd you give up?" She asked Shikamaru.

"I was just too tired, I couldn't keep going." He said as he looked at her. "What about you? Glad you don't have to fight?"

She pouted at him, "No, I really wanted to fight my match, now a whole months worth of training isn't going to be used." Naruto just put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a grin.

"Don't worry Megumi if you need someone to spar with, you can always count on me." She giggled and nodded at his offer, they came to a stop on the stairs as they heard voices ahead of them. The voices soon turned into screams of terror as they saw Gaara capture two ninja in his sand and drag them to their deaths. They stood in shock at what they had just witnessed as they felt and saw Gaara walk by them as if nothing had happened. Once he was gone they fell on the stairs sighing in relief that the tension was gone.

"I-I'm going to-to go to the spectators level." Megumi stumbled down the stairs not wanting to go by the hallway filled with death and left Naruto and Shikamaru to talk. As she made it to the regular seating she noticed Kakashi, Guy, and Lee standing by the seats and Sakura seated next to them watching Sasuke's match begin. "Kakashi, Sakura." She said, they turned to look at her and Kakashi smirked a bit.

"You know, most ninjas your age call me Sensei."

She gave him a smirk of her own as she recovered a bit from her earlier encounter. "Good thing I'm not like most ninjas my age."

"Your right, most ninjas your age aren't missing ninjas." He said to her in a whisper. "Anyway, you should see how Sasuke is doing. All that training I put him through seemed to have worked out." She gave him a confused look and walked up to the railing and was surprised to see Sasuke as fast as ever and actually landing punches on Gaara. '_From what I've heard, this type of taijutsu is Lee's specialty.'_ She looked at Lee and could see the surprise in his face. '_So this is the training Kakashi put him through.'_ She continued to watch as his sand armor began to crack.

Sasuke continued to run after Gaara and managed to kick him to the ground. "What's wrong Gaara? Is that all you can give?" He received a glare from Gaara as he stood up and prepared another jutsu. The stands were filled with silence watching Gaara become surrounded by sand like some sort of shield. Sasuke ran after him in the hopes of stopping the shield but was jolted when his punch landed on sand harder than steel and protruding with spikes.

Megumi gasped as she saw blood drip from his cheek where one of the spikes had injured him. Sasuke jump away, the sand in Gaara's shield seemed to sense he was away and the spikes smoothed over. She was worried as she saw more blood going down his leg and on his knuckles, '_Sasuke, you better be ok.'_ She thought worriedly.

"Kakashi Sensei!" They all turned away from the match to see Naruto, Shikamaru, and Yuki running in their direction. "Sensei please you have to stop this match right away." Their eyes widened at the request. "The guy Sasuke is fighting is as far from normal as you can get!"

Kakashi just stared at him with hard eyes. "Naruto, slow down. What are you trying to say?"

Yuki felt frustrated that they didn't understand Naruto. "Don't you get? If Sasuke keeps fighting this match he's going to die!" he growled.

Naruto returned Kakashi's stare with pleading eyes. "You gotta believe us!" Megumi looked towards Yuki as he approached her.

"These guys told me what happened yesterday at the hospital and about Gaara. I'm mad that you didn't tell me but, this match could get really messy if nothing is done to stop it." He said while looking towards Sasuke.

Megumi looked back to Kakashi to see what he would say and was silently hoping that he would stop the match. Kakashi casually closed his eyes, "Relax, nothing to worry about." They all looked towards him in confusion. "You know, Sasuke and I weren't just goofing around, there is a reason why we were so late getting here."

While still confused, Megumi looked towards Sasuke and just hoped for the best. "It better be a good excuse that will help him, because right now it looks like he needs something big to get through that shield." She stated.

He gave her as much of a smirk as she could see behind his mask. "Don't worry, something big is coming."

**AN:**

**Geez, I'm late again. This week has been busy for me but don't fret silent readers! Today I plan on getting up two more chapters to catch up with the days I missed.**

**By the way, some reviews would be very very very nice for me.**

**-Michelle**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Sasuke could hear Gaara stating seals getting ready to perform a jutsu, '_Can't let that happen.'_ He grit his teeth and ran towards the sand shield but pulled back a bit to throw kunai, they merely ricocheted off the shield but that didn't stop him from running on the other side to attack it. The only problem with his tactic was that the shield seemed to feel when he would approach and would grow lethal spikes, forcing Sasuke to dodge away. '_Well that didn't work, big surprise. That's fine with me, stall all you want. I can use the time getting ready for what I've got in store for you.'_

Up in the stands Kakashi finally revealed why they were late. "Well it's kind of a long story, so just keep your eye on Sasuke and watch. He's about to surprise you all." They did as they were told and saw Sasuke climb the arena wall and make hand signs of his own before putting his right hand over his left wrist towards the ground. As he gathered chakra into his hand they could see small blue sparks forming until it looked like he was holding lighting. "The reason why I always insisted on training Sasuke, is because he's like me." Kakashi told Guy.

"That jutsu, the jab. It's what killed Haku isn't it?" Yuki muttered to Megumi. She nodded as she looked on in shock at the strength Sasuke was showing. '_To be able to turn his chakra into lighting and hold it in his hand is incredible. Even Jonin leveled ninja would have trouble mastering it.'_ She mused as she watched Sasuke smirk.

"He really is a genius." She said to herself. With his Sharingan flaring, Sasuke pulled his hand back taking pieces off the wall from the raw power in his jutsu and ran towards Gaara seeming to pick up an incredible speed while also managing destroy the wall and ground where his jutsu hit.

Guy's eyes widened as he watched; "Now I see. You were late because you were trying to pick up the speed necessary to perform this attack." Kakashi nodded.

"Exactly. Sasuke is able to reach both requirements for this technique; the ability to pick up that speed and the talent of being able to focus his chakra at the same time. When both are met what you see in Sasuke's hand appears and gives off the distinct sound you hear. Because of this the jab is named Chidori: One Thousand Birds, alternatively it is also known as the Lighting Blade." He explained to them.

Guy watched with a serious face as Sasuke dodged the spikes coming from the shield. "It got its second name when Kakashi used it to cut a bolt of lightning in half before it touched the ground." Sakura and Megumi looked at him in awe while Yuki speculated whether or not it was true.

Megumi watched in surprise of Sasuke as his new move hit Gaara's shield and manage to break through it. '_Did he do it? Did he get Gaara?'_ His hand was still in the shield when they heard a terrible sound coming from inside the shield.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! BLOOD! IT'S MY BLOOD!"All of the spectators eyes widened as they heard Gaara's yells of pain. Megumi shivered at the yell, how could he react this way to blood if he was a ninja? '_Unless, he's never seen it before.' _Her eyes widened as she felt a wave of pity hit her, but she didn't know why she felt compassion for him when it seemed that all he wanted was pain for others. Sasuke tried to pull his arm away but saw that he was stuck and used a second blast of his Chidori to try to get out. "AHHHH!" Gaara's yells and Sasuke's chirping Chidori were the only sounds that filled the arena with shocked watchers.

Sasuke tried once more to pull his arm out and while he succeeded he seemed to have pulled some sort of creatures arm out too. "Wha-what is that?" Questioned Yuki, Megumi tried to see what it was more clearly but gasped as it returned to its shield. She felt fearful for Sasuke when she heard an ominous growl come from inside.

"Sasuke get away from there!" Saskura yelled from her seat, but Sasuke stayed where he was as if frozen in shock. Suddenly, the sand began to crack and soon dissolve into a soft pit of sand around Gaara who had a wound on his shoulder where the Chidori had landed. He had a look of murder in his eyes as he panted for breath.

Before the match could progress though, Megumi felt a difference in the air and could swear she saw feathers in the sky. "Megumi, do you feel it? Some sort of Genjutsu." She nodded to Yuki as they released the jutsu and saw Sakura, Kakashi, and Guy do the same. The seats were filled with people asleep who only a minute ago were watching the match.

"What's going on? Ah!" Before she could get an answer, Megumi saw an explosion of smoke come from where the Hokage and visiting Kazekage were sitting. Before Kakashi and Guy could go help, a team of Anbu Black Ops ran ahead claiming to be able to take care of it. Unfortunately, they were stopped as a barrier formed around the roof of the building where the Kazekage was holding the Hokage at knife point. As they tried to reach them to help, Kakashi and Guy were once again stopped by enemy Sound Ninja and one enemy ninja disguised as an Anbu.

Before they could be caught in the crossfire, Megumi and Yuki jumped down to Sasuke's level. "What's going on here?" He asked them, while Megumi gave him a nervous look.

"From what we've seen, we just know that the Kazekage has taken the Hokage hostage and is working together with the Sound Village."

"Gaara stop it!" They looked towards Gaara and saw him push Temari aside and approach them. "Don't forget our mission!" She pleaded.

"Get out of my way!" Before he could get any further though, he fell to his knees grabbing his head and groaning in pain. As if sensing his distress, his Sensei appeared in front of them and told them to try to recover elsewhere.

"I'll take care of these guys." He said as they jumped away. After taking a step further the exam proctor appeared in front of Sasuke as a sign of protection.

"Sasuke, you already reached Chunnin level. So from here on out you must act out your duties as a Leaf Village Shinobi." The proctor told him, Megumi helped Sasuke up but didn't know what she and Yuki were to do.

Sasuke grabbed his left arm as he stood. "So in other words, I go after Gaara."

"Just be careful, this is the real deal now not a match."

"What I must do though is the same." With a parting glance towards Megumi he ran to where Gaara and his team had disappeared to and into the forest. Yuki grabbed Megumi's arm and pulled farther away as the Jonin began to battle.

"What should we do? We have nothing to do with this and yet we're caught in the middle." She worried.

Yuki gave a sigh as he looked towards the barrier on the roof. "I might not like it, but seeing as though a lot of your friends are from here I think we should lend our support and try to help." Despite the serious situation they were in, Megumi could feel a smirk creep up on her face.

"I knew you liked them."

"Sh-shut up." He blushed lightly from embarrassment as they both jumped back up the stands where Naruto and Shikamaru were laying. They looked around and could see numerous Leaf ninja fighting with Sound ninja, Yuki smirked "Well it looks like we got here in time."

"Megumi, Yuki, since it seems you are on our side; I want you two and Sakura to wake Naruto and Shikamaru and go on a mission for me. I want you all to follow Sasuke, in order to help I'll send this with you. Summoning Jutsu!" from the puff of smoke they could see a small dog appear rubbing its eyes. "Pakkun here will help track Sasuke."

Yuki looked at the dog in disbelief. "Are you serious, you're sending a puppy with us?" He gasped as the dog jumped into his arms and looked into his eyes.

"Listen here boy, don't you dare go around saying I'm just some cute puppy." Pakkun said with a deep voice. Yuki looked at him with wide eyes and still holding him. '_But, I didn't say cute.'_

"Alright it's time, go on!" Kakashi urged as he returned to his battle. After Sakura reached them she went towards Shikamaru while Megumi went to Naruto. She focused her chakra into her two fingers and placed them on Naruto's neck. '_Release.'_

His eyes fluttered open as he looked up at them. "Ah, Yuki? Megumi, what's going on?" She just gave him a small smile.

"Just stay low and we'll explain later." She turned towards Sakura as she heard Shikamaru cry out and saw Pakkun attached to his leg.

"You faker! Why were you pretending to be asleep this whole time!" Sakura growled.

Shikamaru pulled Pakkun off his leg and began playing with his face. "Give me a break. I could care less about Sasuke and didn't want to get involved." After pulling on his face to hard, Pakkun retaliated by biting his hand.

Yuki pulled him off of Shikamaru's hand and held him at arm's length. "I guess we all learn the hard way." He said with a glare. They were almost unknowingly attacked when they heard Guy punch an enemy out of the wall behind them and Kakashi appear ahead of them.

"After I explain the mission I want you all to go through that hole and continue. Orochimaru seems to be behind all this so keep an eye out for his men, these are your objectives: First, track down Sasuke and stop him, second find a safe location to await further orders." They nodded and headed out with a shaky Shikamaru being pulled by Pakkun and confused Naruto being dragged by Sakura.

They were soon being led by Pakkkun as he continued to track Sasuke. Megumi smiled a bit at the situation. "We make an interesting team." They answered her with confused faces that soon transformed into various stages of amusement.

"This way." Stated Pakkun as he turned right, they had now explained the whole story to Naruto and could move faster when they felt others following them. "C'mon guys, hurry it up! There are two squads behind us, that's eight ninja. No, there's one more; that's nine." He suddenly stopped them in a small clearing and looked down at his paws.

Naruto growled a bit in his throat. "What's the big idea why are we stopping!"

"Just follow my lead!" Pakkun started to go backwards over his footprints. "If we pull this off, we're going to seem like we disappeared." He jumped backwards onto the tree as he finished.

"Really? They'd have to pretty lame ninja to fall for this." Naruto muttered, Megumi looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"If it helps slow them down a bit then it should be worth a try right?" He just looked at her with a small frown.

"I guess." They jumped back onto the tree behind them and started to run again towards Sasuke. She could feel the other ninja's presence again sometime later. "Pakkun."

"I know, they're preparing an ambush." He said with a twitch of his nose.

Naruto didn't look worried at all. "Well that's fine, we just have to ambush them first. We just need to catch them off guard." Pakkun twitched his nose again.

"No. These ninja are all Orochimaru's hench men, my guess is that they're all Jonin level."

Shikimaru grit his teeth. "I really thought that was going to work." The others gave him confused faces as to why it wouldn't work. "Let me explain, yes an ambush is a key battle tactic and can be very beneficial but for it to work you have to meet two conditions. 1. The ninja on the run must be completely quiet and find the enemy first. 2. They have to be able to catch the pursuers off guard in a location where they can make a lot of damage quickly and then conceal themselves again just as quickly. It's only under those conditions that an ambush can truly be affective."

Yuki bit back a growl. "I get it. The second condition is pretty much ruined for us. Orochimaru was originally from here and is one of the Three Legendary Sannin. We can assume he's told these ninjas to study the layout completely and know every location like you guys."

Shikimaru bit the inside of his cheek a bit. "Exactly, plus they must be a special force that was put together specifically for this task. And what are we? Two ninja's that can't really be trusted, a fool, a kunoichi with no particular talent, a mutt, and me the shirker who doesn't even want to be here." They all gave him glares as he managed to insult them all including himself. "Look, only one plan makes sense. We need a diversion that looks like an ambush, so one of us has to stay behind."

Megumi looked at him with widened eyes. "It might work but then that means that the one who stays behind probably won't make it." They all stopped on branches as they let the news sink in. "Which one of us should do it? We need Pakkun to find Sasuke so…" She trailed off as she looked at trees texture.

Naruto tightened his fists. "Alright, I guess I'll be-"

"I'm the only one who can do it."They looked at him in shock as Shikamaru volunteered. "Don't look at me like that, you guys know that I'm the only one who can pull it off and survive this. So go on, get going." They nodded and said their goodbyes as they reluctantly left; he just gave them a wave of his hand.

"Pick up the pace slackers!" They ran after Pakkun for a while and Megumi could feel that the enemy ninjas weren't following them anymore. "Huh, I guess Shikamaru managed to stop them." They continued running and could sense that they were getting closer as the forest grew darker and thicker. They suddenly heard loud explosions come from ahead of them.

"Paper marked traps. I hope Sasuke isn't hurt." Megumi muttered. She looked beside her and saw Pakkun fall on Naruto's head.

"I wouldn't worry; it probably just slowed him down." He said as they started again in that direction. "Huh? Did I just smell what I think I smelled?"

Megumi looked around in case of approaching trouble. "What is it? What's wrong?" She turned back and could see Pakkun staring intently at Sakura.

"Sakura, did you know you use the same shampoo as I do? But I wonder why my coat is glossier than yours." Yuki let out a snort at the shocked expression on Sakura's face.

"Heh, you smell like a dog." He mocked; Megumi gave a sharp slap to the head though before he could continue.

"Now isn't the time for this we have to keep going." As they started running again she could barely here Sakura as she numbly mumbles 'I smell like a dog.' They soon found themselves in the lighter part of the forest again and knew they were closer still. They continued on in silence when Pakkun once again broke it.

"I smell something."

Yuki gave him a disbelieving look. "What? Someone else's shampoo?" He received a growl for his joke.

"No, it's Sasuke. He's just up ahead too!" In the excitement of finally finding Sasuke they ran faster and managed to see a strange sight.

Gaara looked different. Half of him looked almost like a demon made of sand with his demonic arm and yellow eye, he was growling and begging for death. Meanwhile they could see Sasuke on laying on a branch seeming to be out of chakra. Megumi and Sakura went after him to help but didn't notice Gaara's impending attack on him until they saw Naruto kick him into another tree.

"You guys take care of Sasuke, Yuki and I will take care of Gaara."

**AN:**

**Ahh! I missed my own self appointed deadline! Shame on me. I don't know why, but when I'm bored and want to do something I can't find anyone but when I want to write I'm suddenly very interesting. Not that I want to sound conceded, although I am awesome heh heh. This time for sure I will write!**

**-Michelle**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Based on how Sasuke looked, Megumi could tell that they came too late. He was covered in the strange marks that seemed to come from the mark on his neck and he was bleeding from his mouth. He groaned in pain and she tried to calm him as best as she looked for some healing ointment in her holster. "W-who is this guy?" She heard Naruto mutter. She looked towards Naruto and saw his opponent.

"Naruto, that's Gaara." His eyes widened, he couldn't believe that the quiet yet dangerous boy was now this demonic creature. Megumi looked back at Sasuke as Sakura tried to sooth him, "Yuki! We have to find a safe spot and wait for Kakashi."

Yuki took out a kunai and got in battle stance. "Our mission is compromised; we now have to face the enemy since it seems there isn't a way of escaping." Megumi nodded her understanding and looked back towards Sakura as she heard Sasuke coughing and struggling not to scream in pain. '_What did you do to yourself Sasuke?'_

She took out her katana and jumped to the branch ahead of her with Yuki and Naruto. "Alright, at least this way I can put some of my training to good use." As they were about to attack, Gaara bypassed them and went straight to Sasuke, she tried running after him but he was too fast. Suddenly she saw Sakura get in front of him with only a kunai in her hand. "Sakura no!" But it was too late; she was pushed to the side and held against a tree where he put more pressure on her.

"Damn it Sakura, why does she have to be so reckless?" She heard Yuki growl. Megumi saw as he and Naruto went and took Sasuke away to another tree away from danger.

Naruto yelled towards Sakura but received no answer and assumed she passed out. "This is not good, what the heck do we do now?" He asked the mist ninja, they just watched as Gaara gripped his head in what seemed to be pain. Yuki growled a bit before answering.

"Right now, we attack!" He ran after Gaara with his kunai but before he could get a hit in the tail Gaara had made of sand tried to hit Yuki. He barely managed to dodge in time, "Fast but take this." He hurled five kunai he had in his holster towards Gaara but his attack was again blocked by his tail. Megumi noticed as Gaara detached his demonic sand arm, leaving the hand holding Sakura against the tree and formed another hand he used to knock Yuki aside.

Megumi cried after him as she saw him hit a tree and fall to the ground unconscious. "Yuki! Oh no…" She whimpered, Sakura, Sasuke, and now Yuki, it was starting to look like no one could beat Gaara. "I guess it's just you and me now Naruto."

Naruto looked towards Megumi and her katana, he wasn't sure how this was going to turn out but he wasn't going to give up. "Al-alright." She could see that he was trying to think of a bigger plan and decided to by him time.

"Time for my new jutsu. Ice Release!" She activated her Kekkei Genkai and looked towards Gaara, he seemed to be focused on Naruto and was even taunting him. '_Now's my chance.'_ "Crystal Ice Needles!" Her chakra seemed to have frozen in her hands into needles that with enough speed and accuracy could pierce anything. She watched with bated breath as Gaara blocked them with his arms but was surprised to see not blood but sand come from the wound.

"Ha, why do you even try?"He laughed and growled at her.

She gave him a defiant look despite her failed attack. "These people are precious to me and I will do anything to protect them." He gave her a confused look before he grabbed his head and groaned in even more pain than before. She looked back and could see Naruto arguing with a small orange frog. "Naruto, we have to figure something out before Sakura suffocates."

"Worried about others? That's your big mistake when, I fight I fight for me and me alone." They gasped as they saw Gaara look more like the demon Shukaku, he had described at the hospital. "Only by defeating me can you save the girl. You should hurry, the sand will harden soon and crush her to her death. Sand Shuriken!" Megumi blocked the shuriken with her blade but could see Naruto get hit when he saved the small frog he seemed to summon. "You fools! You struggle with attacking me because you fear for others. You should think only for yourself. Love only yourself! Megumi I saw that blood lust during the exams, I saw who you truly are. And you, Naruto, if you have a demon like myself then you should know that others make you weak."

Megumi gripped her own head as she struggled with her thoughts. '_He can't be right. That was the old me, I'm not like that anymore. I'm not like that!'_

"Fight me you coward or I'll kill the girl now!" Gaara threatened Naruto.

Naruto emitted a feral growl, "Alright you asked for it! Multi Shadow Clone-Jutsu!" Before the clones could do any real damage though, Gaara released his own jutsu.

"Wind Style: Sand Storm Devastation!" A sand storm was released from his mouth that wiped out all of Naruto's clones and threw him back. He continued to throw Naruto against trees with his Sand Shuriken but he wouldn't stay down. "What a joke! All that effort and you couldn't even touch me."

Megumi gasped as she watched him wrap a paper bomb around a kunai and immediately had an idea. '_I just hope he either catches on or just goes with it.'_ As Naruto used his shadow clone technique to get closer to Gaara, Megumi used the opportunity to use a new jutsu she learned to make the paper bomb stronger. "Water Style: Black Rain!" suddenly above Gaara rain started to fall on him but on closer examination he could tell and smell that it was a strange black mist. He retaliated by turning and throwing her forcefully against the tree where Sasuke was and fell with a dizzy mind and an aching body.

"Megumi! Are you alright?" She couldn't even say anything as she felt Sasuke turn her over.

"Leaf Village Secret Taijutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" He poked Gaara in his butt with his kunai; Megumi could feel her eye twitch a bit against the ground. '_That was your idea Naruto?'_ It looked like Gaara barely noticed and just pushed Naruto away again with his tail and landed against Sasuke. At that moment though the kunai Naruto used was still attached to Gaara and ignited, and with the help of Megumi's flammable black rain, created a huge explosion.

They watched in anticipation as the smoke began to clear, wanting to see what was left of Gaara. Megumi gasped as her mind barely focused on him, Gaara's new formed seemed to dissolve into sand from half his body. Naruto glared at Gaara, "You know what Gaara, I was actually starting to believe what you were saying about others making you weaker. Then I remembered a really smart friend of mine and the truth he told me about a person's strength. Haku told me that when a person has someone precious they want to protect, it's only then that they become genuinely strong."

'_Haku…you really were such a good person.'_ Megumi thought with a small laugh. Her mind was starting to fog but she managed to see Naruto release a great amount of chakra and create multiple shadow clones. She could feel her eyelids feel heavier as she lost energy. '_You better be ok. Naruto, Yuki, Sasuke, even Sakura.' _

….

Sasuke let out a breath of relief as he saw Megumi's eyes flutter open. "S-Sasuke…where am I?" He gave her a smirk.

"You faint a lot, don't you?" She sat up and looked around her and could see Yuki and Sakura next to her. Yuki seemed to just be sleeping but Sakura was still unconscious. "We're still in the forest, you were only knocked out for a couple of minutes." They stood to their feet and Megumi took the opportunity to look at Sasuke's marks on his body and even touched the ones on his cheek.

"Do they hurt?" She said with worry.

He just gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine; right now we have to find Naruto." He turned to Pakkun as he took Megumi's hand. "I'll leave them with you." Before he got an answer he ran with Megumi where he thought Naruto might be. When they arrived they saw Naruto crawling towards Gaara who was also on the ground, both seemed to be in the need of assistance. Megumi saw Sasuke go towards Naruto and explain the situation, and she went towards Gaara.

As she reached him she could feel the confusion coming off of him and could hear him muttering something. "Love, is that the thing that makes him so strong?" She put his head on her lap and with a piece of cloth she ripped from her dress wiped as much blood as she could from his head wound.

"Yes, love makes everyone stronger. It could even make you stronger." She answered.

He closed his eyes to save some energy. "Megumi, I'm sorry for what I've put you and the others through." She nodded and accepted his apology with a small smile. Temari and Kankuro suddenly appeared in front of her ready to attack when they heard Gaara speak. "That's enough, it's over." After looking at him in confusion, they accepted his wish and left without another word.

Megumi could feel Sasuke's eyes on her. "Please don't judge me Sasuke, I'm not sure why I sympathize with him. But I feel like he's not a bad person, just lonely." Sasuke looked away from her and down to a leaf covered in sand and couldn't help but think that maybe she was right. Gaara could end up being a friend.

_One Day Later._

Yuki and Megumi were watching the Third Hokage's funeral from the top of another building. They didn't feel like it was their place to be there but they still wanted to pay their respects. As it started to rain, Megumi couldn't help but feel homesick. Despite being the place of her most horrible memories, she couldn't help but miss the mist and rain she had grown so used to, although she knew she probably never could go back. She felt Yuki nudge her arm a bit and looked up to see an Anbu Black Op standing in front of them.

"I assume you must be Yuki and Megumi from the Hidden Mist Village."

Yuki nodded, "We are, what do you want?" He still had his guard up in case they were found out.

"A message was found in Lord Hokage's desk after his death. It was addressed to you." The Anbu then took out a scroll and passed it to them.

"Has it been read by someone else?" Megumi asked.

"No, now if you'll excuse me I will be taking my leave." With that said he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Yuki opened the scroll, "That's nice, I never like it when others would read my mail." He tried to lighten the mood. They read together what the Third Hokage had wanted to say to them.

_Dear Yuki and Megumi,_

_If you are reading this, then I am sorry to say that we never had an opportunity to speak in person and I am no longer in this world. What I wanted to tell you two was that I found out that you are actually missing ninja. I'm not sure why you had decided to take the Chunnin Exam but I feel that it is safe to say that you are not a threat to this village._

_I think that perhaps you two are drifters looking for a place to settle down. I want you to know that you are welcomed here in the Leaf Village for as long as you see fit and since you are not known here you could even start a new life. I truly hope the best for you two._

_-The Third Hokage_

Megumi looked up at Yuki as they finished and smiled. "I think we should take him up on his offer, at least for a little while." Yuki looked down at the funeral with a smile of his own.

"Yeah we should. We're just going to have to find a place to stay for a while, our money has been going into that hotel for since we've been here and I doubt it'll last much longer." Yuki put away the scroll and started walking away from the Hokage's Mansion and funeral as the rain stopped and the sun shined through the clouds. "I bet that guy Naruto will be more than ok if we decided to live with him." Megumi smiled and looked down on a puddle with two leaves in it and ran after Yuki. '_This must be what a new beginning feels like.'_

_Two Hours Later._

"What? What do you mean you're going to live here?" Yuki rubbed his ear after hearing Naruto's yell.

"Hey I'm not too happy either now that I look at it, this place is a pigsty. Megumi and I went to Sasuke's place first but he only had room for one of us. Stupid me, I shouldn't have been nice in letting her stay there." Yuki put down his backpack on the couch and sat down as he complained.

Naruto growled at Yuki. "What makes you think I'm going to let you stay here, especially after you just insulted it!"

"Well, 1. You're too nice to turn out an awesome friend like me and leave me too die homeless and 2…" He paused as he grew a scary smile. "You wouldn't want to see an angry Megumi now would you?" Naruto shivered at the unwanted sight, if Sakura was scary when she was mad, how would Megumi be?

"A-alright, you can stay here but you have sleep on the couch." Yuki relaxed in his space with his arms behind his head.

"Thank goodness, I wouldn't want to take my chances with what you call a bed. It looks more like a pile of junk." Naruto fumed as Yuki continued to insult his home.

"You know what you jerk! You should try being more grateful!"

"I'll be grateful when you fix up this mess!" Villagers outside the apartment could hear the bickering duo and couldn't help but think they sounded like an old married couple.

_Meanwhile in Sasuke's Apartment._

"Thanks again for letting me stay here Sasuke." Megumi said as she put her backpack on the bed. "Sorry for taking your bed too."

Sasuke just gave her a smile, "It's fine I can make it on the couch." Megumi gave him a disbelieving look.

"You know we could just share the bed." She blushed as she heard her sentence. "I-I mean, I don't really sleep a lot since I've been training a lot lately and it can't be good for your back if you sleep on the ground and-" She was cut off as Sasuke pulled her to him and she blushed harder.

"Let me take you somewhere." Before she could answer she could feel herself being taken to another location as he used the transportation jutsu. When she opened her eyes she could see that she was on the roof of a building with trees and seats and could see Sasuke not to far from her looking at the sky. She lies down next to him and does the same. They stayed that way for a few minutes until a singing bird could be seen circling above them. "Kakashi. Tch, what the heck does he want? Let's go, he won't mind if you come along." As Sasuke left and Megumi was about to follow, she could hear a bell ring in the distance and had the feeling something bad was about to happen. '_It's probably nothing.'_

**AN:**

**Yay! Two chapters in one day! I will try to do two more tomorrow and finally be caught up with this story.**

**Do I even need to say it now? I think I dooooo; Please Revieeeew!**

**-Michelle**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It had been a day since the Hokage's funeral and the village was already recovering greatly after its attack. Megumi and Sasuke were walking towards where they agreed to meet with Kakashi when she bumped into his back. "What is it Sasuke?"

He continued staring in one direction and could see that he was looking at Kakashi talking with Asuma and Kurenai. "H-he's never early. Ever." Megumi smiled at him not thinking of it as a big deal and pulled him towards his Sensei. After he regained his stoic attitude he walked towards Kakashi who was in front of the dango shop with Megumi next to him. "Kakashi, it's not like you to show up early. What gives?"

Kakashi was looking into the shop as he spoke. "Well, sometimes I do. Megumi how nice of you join us." Megumi looked into the shop as she heard familiar bells but only saw two plates of dango and two cups of still hot tea.

Sasuke looked too but gave a grimacing face. "Let's eat somewhere else. I don't have much of a sweet tooth."

"Is that so, I'm sure Megumi would like to eat her though." They could see Kakashi give a nod to Asuma and Kurenai as they left but brushed it off as Jonin duties. Megumi blushed as the attention was turned to her.

"No, I'm fine with anything." She said; she really did like sweet things though. Sasuke just looked at her and gave his signature 'Hmph' and walk into the shop.

_Ten minutes later_

Megumi was eating her second plate of food and Sasuke was drinking his tea glaring at the entrance. "I can't believe I didn't see this coming. Of course Kakashi would leave early and leave me the bill." Megumi's cheeks were rosy with happiness, these dango might just be her new favorite food.

"He said he wanted to check something out. Maybe it was an emergency." Sasuke smiled as he watched her eat happily. They seemed to be complete opposites and yet completely alike. He was going to tell her until the waitress came over with bentos he hadn't ordered and the bill.

"Excuse me but we didn't order anything to go." Sasuke told her with a bit of an angry face.

She blushed as she saw his face. "W-well those were ordered by the man with a mask and gray hair, he said you would pay for it all and even left this note for you." Sasuke snatched the note from her becoming angrier and didn't say anything as she left. He turned red with rage as he read the note:

_Hey Sasuke, thanks for treating me to lunch. I hope you enjoy your date with Megumi. Here are some bentos to help with your sweet tooth._

_-Kakashi_

"Sasuke? What does the note say?" Megumi was worried as she saw him crush note and if possible become angrier.

He looked at the clock on the wall and got ready to leave as he put money on the table. "It's nothing, listen I got to go do something so I'll see you later. You can have both meals, maybe give them to Yuki and Naruto."

"Thanks for paying for lunch." She told him, he just gave her a smirk and left, once she saw he was gone she slammed her head against the table '_Oh no! He must think I'm a fatty for eating like this!' _She took the bentos with her as she left the shop but her mind was still stuck on her thoughts. '_Does it even matter? It's not like we were on a date or anything, but it was just the two of us…no, he would never go for a girl like me. Maybe Sakura and Ino but not me, besides I don't even like him like that…right?'_ Her face was so hot from her blushing she needed to calm down. "I guess I should go see how Yuki and Naruto are doing." She sighed.

…

Naruto was on his bed happily packing his things into his backpack as he sang. "I'm gonna learn a new jutsu! He he, maybe now I'll finally get Sakura's attention and a kiss! I can't wait to see Sasuke and Kakashi Sensei when I spring it on them!"

"Is that why you're so happy?" Naruto frowned as he heard the voice in his doorway.

"Oh, Yuki I forgot you were here. Just so you know I'm going on a trip with the great Toad Sage Jiraiya, and he's going to teach me an awesome new jutsu. Believe it." Naruto casually stated trying to make him jealous.

Yuki looked at him with a small smile. "So let me get this straight. You are leaving on a training trip with one of The Three Legendary Sannin and you won't be back for a while, right?" Naruto gave him slight nod trying to play it cool.

"Right so try not to miss me."

"Sweet, I get the place to myself now."

He barely managed to dodge a weird frog wallet Naruto had thrown at him, "I can't believe that's all you care about! You're more annoying than Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he threw his clock at him.

"Can you blame me for wanting you to leave? I want some time to clean and fix this place myself!"

"What's to fix and clean? It's fine here!"

"You must be blind! There are ramen cups wherever I go and you're not helping by throwing things!"

Megumi walked into the apartment and heard the yelling coming from the bedroom and was almost hit by a flying shoe as she walked in.

"Now look at what you did! You almost hit Megumi!" Naruto yelled.

"Me? That was you, idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot, idiot!" They continued yelling at each other and didn't notice the kunai Megumi had thrown at them.

"You're both idiots. I don't know what happened but I don't really care so stop fighting like little girls." She growled. They moved to the living room where Naruto and Yuki sat glaring at each other and Megumi stood with a stern face. "So what happened?"

Naruto stood and pointed at Yuki. "This guy right here is actually happy that I'm leaving for a while and wants my place for himself!"

"Jeez you're annoying." Yuki muttered. Before they could start yelling again though, Megumi looked at Naruto in confusion.

"You're leaving?" After Naruto explained everything to her, Megumi gave him one of the bentos she had already planned on giving to him and even offered to walk him to the village gate with Yuki.

"Alright I'm ready." Naruto said with determination. "Let's move out!" He yelled as he tried to get his overstuffed backpack off the ground.

Jiraiya just looked at him with and incredulous look. "You do realize we're not going on a trip around the world."

Yuki just put gave a facepalm at watching Naruto struggle. "You really are hopeless."

She laughed as she watched Jiraiya help him with his things. "Bye Naruto." Megumi waved as they walked back to the village.

…

It had been about three hours since Naruto had left and Megumi was bored. Yuki had decided to go training but Megumi was too tired to go with him. '_Hmm, what can I do now?'_ She sighed as she couldn't think of an answer. She continued walking aimlessly and didn't even pay attention to the running footsteps coming her way until she felt someone grab her by the shoulders turn her to face them.

"Megumi where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked with a panicked voice.

"Uh, he left a little while ago with Jiraiya to Tanzaku Town." She was surprised by how worried Sasuke looked. "What happened, is he in danger?"

Sasuke grabbed Megumi's arm and started pulling her towards the village entrance. "C'mon, you can help me find them."

"Ah, Sasuke wait." She couldn't get word in before he started running with her out of the village and into the forest. Sasuke was mad, not only was his brother, Itachi, back in the Land of Fire but he was after one of his closest friends and had already injured Kakashi with his Sharingan. '_I'm not going to let it happen again, I'm not going to be useless and let you kill my best friends.'_ He ran with Megumi close behind him with his own Sharingan blazing. "Sasuke, can you please tell me what's going on?" Megumi asked from beside him.

"That outpost town isn't too far off, we're almost there." He said trying to change the subject. Megumi wasn't going to have any of that though and stopped running, Sasuke stopped and looked at her with a glare. "Why are you stopping?"

"Why aren't you telling me anything? I'm not going further until you tell me what's happening." She said with her own glare.

"Fine! My brother is after Naruto and to find him before he does. I'm sure you already know the story about the Uchihas and being a missing ninja I'm sure you know that my brother is the one who did it." He told her with frustration, the mere topic brought back memories he would rather not think about, and telling Megumi about them wasn't helping.

Megumi looked at him in shock as they started running again. "Itachi, I've heard of him and what he did. But why would he be after Naruto?" They ran into the Tanzaku Town entrance without a second glance at all the strange things happening there.

"That's why I'm going after them. I need to warn Naruto." They split up as they realized how many hotels were in this town and went on their own to either find Naruto or Jiraiya. It proved to be more difficult than it sounded since most of the people here either had bad memories or were drunk, '_What kind of town is this?'_ It was hopeless, everywhere Megumi went led to a dead end, that is, until she saw an older looking man drinking some sort of pink drink with a young looking woman. '_Finally!'_

"Jiraiya! Finally I found you." Megumi said as she caught up with them. She looked at the woman with him and saw something strange in her eyes.

She just laughed at Megumi's look and clung closer to Jiraiya. "You know this kid?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened at the woman. "No, of course not." He laughed nervously as he got down to Megumi's level. "Beat it kid, I'm about to get the ultimate research done and I don't need you here right now." She growled as they both called her kid and did the signs for a releasing jutsu.

"You really are a Pervy Sage, can't you tell she's under a genjutsu. Release!" She hit the woman with a bit more force than necessary that forced Jiraiya to catch her as she fainted. "That's what she gets for calling me kid. Anyway, you have to lead me back to the hotel you and Naruto were staying at. Itachi is after him and I'm pretty sure Sasuke wants revenge."

Jiraiya's eyes widened realization. How could he have been so reckless? He was the first one who knew Itachi was here and yet he left Naruto alone. '_I'm sorry Minato, I haven't been keeping my promise.' _He looked towards Megumi and nodded at her, before he ran back to the hotel with the unconscious woman over his shoulder. As luck would have it for Megumi, the place they were staying at was only a few meters away from her.

As they approached the building Megumi could hear birds chirping and saw a big explosion create a hole on the buildings third floor and could hear a scream tear through the sky. "Sasuke!" She ran to the hotel hallway as fast as she could and could see a man was about to bring down his giant sword on Naruto and could see Sasuke on the ground.

Kisame was about to cut Naruto into ribbons when he felt his Shark Skin hit a piece of metal. "….What the?" Blood dripped to the ground as Megumi's katana dug into her hand while she tried to keep Kisame's blade from cutting her and Naruto. "Well, if it isn't young Megumi. I heard Zabuza croaked a while back." She merely glared at him and Itachi behind him as an answer.

A puff of smoke surprised everyone in the room. "You two really don't know me well. Jiraiya the Toad Sage falls victim to no women's charm, they fall only for me! Like blossoms in a storm. When you reach my status of skill, the ladies fall and worship your awesomeness!" Megumi pushed against Kisame's blade and managed to put distance between them as Jiraiya spoke about himself.

Naruto growled in anger. "Don't give us that Pervy Sage! One wink from a pretty girl and you turned into a pile of mush! You fell for it like a ton of bricks!"

Kisame chuckled as he watched him put the woman down. "Mater Jiraiya, I must say you are a bit of a disappointment. A lecherous old man with the disposition of a child it's hard to believe you're a Sannin. So, not only are you protecting this kid it seems Megumi somehow involved herself."

"What? You guys know about Pervy Sage and you know Megumi!" Naruto yelled in confusion. Jiraiya gave them a glare.

"I know what you're really after."

Itachi smirked as he spoke to them. "That's right. Naruto is the prize of the Akatsuki and we will have him."

"How convenient I can get rid of both of you at the same time. Jiraiya said while cracking his knuckles. He was stopped though by the sound of Sasuke's pained grunts on the ground.

"Stay out of it." Sasuke struggled getting up and felt pain coursing through his broken wrist. "If anyone is going to get rid of him, it's going to be me!" As he ran towards Itachi, he was kicked into a wall before he could even land a blow on him. He still managed to get up though and looked his brother with hatred and his Sharingan. "I've waited my whole life for this moment, trained for this. This fight is mine!"

Megumi saw that he was in danger and ran after him but was stopped by Kisame's sword. "You heard it's none of our business." He laughed. Megumi tried with all her might to at least scratch Kisame but she couldn't do it. "So Zabuza was training you in the ways of the sword, and here I thought Yuki would be the one to take that honor. Still, you aren't good enough." As she was about to get him with her blade, she somehow missed Kisame turning his sword and hitting her in the gut with the hilt and kicking her to the other side of the hall way. She looked up and saw Kisame turn his attention to Naruto and Jiraiya and tried to get up. She looked up sharply as she heard Sasuke hit the ground from Itachi's unrelenting attacks. Itachi had his younger brother up on the wall by the neck and whispered something to him. She tried reaching him in time but stumbled a bit. "…Sasuke." She muttered, she watched as Itachi looked at him one second and in the next had Sasuke screaming in agony.

"Isn't it heartwarming to see him use Tsukuyomi on his own brother?" Kisame said with sarcasm. Megumi went after him but was stopped as the room seemed to be consumed by a fleshy pink material and heard Jiraiya call it the Toad Mouth Trap. Itachi and Kisame ran down the hall as they were followed by a strange flesh wall, somehow though they managed to escape with a strange black flame.

Once the cost was clear and the flesh had receded, Naruto and Megumi went after Sasuke. They saw that his eyes were still open but was in some sort of daze. "What did they do to you?" Naruto asked, Megumi shrugged as she looked at him in confusion.

She stood up and suddenly saw a kunai in the wall next to her and a piece of her hair falling. As she looked back she could see someone jump into a kick going directly towards Jiraiya.

"Dynamic Entry!"

**AN:**

**Itachi. Of course he would be making his debut.**

**Review. I repeat, you must REVIEW!**

**-Michelle**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Naruto and Megumi watched in shock as Jiraiya was kicked into the opposite wall by Might Guy. A while afterwards Megumi helped him as best she could which included a small piece of tissue in his nose to stop the bleeding, while Jiraiya just sat glaring at guy. "Uh, I guess I was a little over enthusiastic. I didn't see clearly and I wanted to hurry so…" Guy tried to apologize to Jiraiya but it only seemed to anger him more.

"What? If this is your way of saying sorry it stinks!" He growled while shaking his fists at Guy. At that moment they saw another figure walk into the hallway through the hole in the wall.

"Man, I leave you guys alone for just a little while and this happens."

"Yuki!" Exclaimed Naruto and Megumi. He walked up to them and gave them a small wave before looking at Sasuke. He stared at him with an unreadable face before kicking him lightly on the arm. "Don't do that! What's the big idea, Yuki?" Naruto yelled at him.

He continued nudging Sasuke on the side, ignoring Naruto. "What happened to him?" Jiraiya kneeled down and looked closely at the dazed Sasuke.

"He was badly beat up and has a broken arm. Worst of all though he seems to be knocked out by whatever jutsu Itachi used on him." He explained. "Physically, he will make a perfect recovery. But his mind, well that's a different story. I'm sorry Guy, I wanted to let Sasuke fight his own battle, but now I see that I should've intervened."

Yuki looked into Sasuke's eyes more closely. "This must be the same genjutsu Kakashi was hit with. When I went to go see him he looked exactly the same, no one knows when he'll come out of it."

"Kakashi Sensei?" Naruto said as he found out that two people close to him were hurt. Guy stepped up to Sasuke and put him over his shoulder.

"We need a master of the medical arts and soon." Jiraiya looked at Guy with a knowing glance.

"The woman you're talking about is the one we've come here to find." Guy gave a shocked face as if knowing who he was talking about, Jiraiya gave a small chuckle. "That's right, another of the Legendary Sannin, The Queen of Slugs and Elixirs, the Gambling Fool and Mistress of the Healing Arts, Lady Tsunade."

As they made it to the front of the gates Megumi looked back at Jiraiya in worry. "Don't worry Megumi, we will come back with Tsunade and she'll be able to help Sasuke." She sighed and gave him a small smile.

"It's not just that; I want you to make sure you and Naruto come back ok." She might not want to admit it, but the Pervy Sage was starting to grow on her and she could see that he really did care for Naruto.

He patted her on the head and gave his own small smile. "I promise. Alright Guy, we leave Sasuke in your hands." Yuki just gave Naurto a smirk as he prepared to leave.

"You better come back Naruto, I want to see the look on your face when you see _our _apartment." He teased, Megumi laughed at Yuki's way of saying 'I hope you get back fine.'

Naruto looked at him with a smirk of his own. "Don't even worry about it, I'll be back in time to see _my _apartment just the same and we'll have Lady Tsunade in the village too." They were like brothers not willing to say what they truly felt, but Megumi could see the bond they were starting to form and smiled happily. '_I knew Yuki would warm up to him.'_

Guy could see the bond they were forming too as he watched them. "Nothing impresses me more than guts and you two have it with a burning youthfulness. Come here Naruto, let me give you something." He adjusted Sasuke on his back as he searched for something in his Jonin vest. "Lee got stronger than this."

Naruto's eyes lit up with the possibility of getting stronger as he spoke with excitement. "Really what is it? What is it!"

Guy gave one of his signature smiles with a gleam in his eye as he took out a green jumpsuit. "Check it out!" Naruto looked excited and genuinely thought it was a cool outfit while the others looked at it with complete disdain on their faces. "It's breathable and offers complete freedom of movement all in one sweet package, if you wear it while you train you'll see a difference immediately. They really grow on you, pretty soon you'll be wearing them all the time like Lee. I've got a bit of a thing for them myself."

Naruto seemed to almost grow a flame in his eyes as he jumped with excitement. "Oh man! So cool!" He smiled at Guy with what seemed like his own gleaming smile.

"Ugh, that is the goofiest outfit I've ever seen." Yuki commented as they started to head back to the village. Megumi waved to Naruto before turning to him.

"Be nice, Naruto and Guy really like them." She said, in her mind though she was laughing at the situation, '_At least they have confidence.'_ Guy caught up to them and they started running back to the village.

"Don't worry Yuki, I'll get you your own jumpsuit once we get back to the village." Guy said with an apologizing smile. Yuki just scowled as he tried to speed up.

"That's fine I don't need one." Megumi snorted in laughter at picturing Yuki in the green suit. "Shut up, Megumi." He said with a glare; it only made her laugh more.

_One Month Later_

Megumi was in the hospital again visiting Sasuke, she had been there so many times that it had become her home away from home. '_The nurses even know my name already, how embarrassing.'_ She sighed as she moved to look out the window with Sasuke unconscious behind her. She remembered her small fight with Kisame and how she failed to even scratch him. '_What was I expecting? He's one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist; I wasn't even part of his league.'_ She sighed again as she looked back at Sasuke and took out a kunai knife. "It's now or never…" She reached out to him as she approached with her knife and grabbed a piece of his hair. "I don't why your hair grows so quickly, but I know you would just let it grow out of pure laziness." She spoke as she trimmed his hair, she found the room to be too quiet and hummed a small tune she suspected her mother used to hum or even sing to her when she was little.

She hated to admit it but she was starting to find her time and life in the village to be getting boring, all she ever really did in her days was train, visit Sasuke, make sure Yuki was alive, and occasionally speak with other ninja in the village. She was thankful to be taken out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door and smiled as Sakura walked in; they had become unofficial nurses for Sasuke. Of course Sakura visited way more often than Megumi, although she suspected the pink haired kunoichi was neglecting her training in doing so. "Hey Megumi, how's your injury?"

Megumi placed a hand on her stomach and could still feel a bit of a sting where Kisame had left a bruise. "It's fine, just a little sore. Yuki accidently hit it while we were training." She didn't know what Kisame had done to her but her bruise was taking much longer than necessary to heal.

Sakura looked down on Sasuke and started picking up the locks of hair Megumi had cut. "Thank goodness you cut his hair, I was afraid of messing up if I had to do it." She said somberly. Sakura felt useless again, while she stayed doing errands for her mom, her teammates and friends were out actually contributing to the welfare of the village and risking their lives. '_Even Megumi and Yuki help, and they're not even part of this village.'_ Megumi sat on the right side of Sasuke's bed looking out the window as Sakura sat on his left looking at him.

They were both interrupted from their thoughts as they heard approaching footsteps and the door opening. "May I come in?" In came a beautiful blonde woman with hazel brown eyes.

Sakaru looked at her skeptically and stood from her seat. "W-who are you?" Megumi stayed seated and watched the woman walk into the room just smiling at them. '_Who ever she is, she's beautiful.'_

"Sakura! Sakura! You'll never believe it! She's going to make everything better again! Don't worry, Sasuke is going to be all right now." They stared at him in disbelief, he hadn't been in the village in over a month and now he was here acting like it had only been a day.

"Lady Tsunade. It's nice to know you accepted coming here." Megumi said politely. Tsunade turned to look at her or more likely her headband.

"A mist village ninja, you must Megumi, Naruto told me all about you." Megumi felt her breath hitch as she gave Naruto a surprised look. "As the Fifth Hokage, I'm going to have to speak to you and Yuki later on." She had a cocky smile on her face which showed how much she enjoyed the power; it only frightened Megumi though since this person had her fate in their hands.

Sakura bowed and spoke quietly to Tsunade. "You must be the one Guy Sensei told me about, oh please if you can save Sasuke…."

"Well, I'll see what I can do." She moved towards Sasuke and put her hand over his forehead; suddenly her hand began to glow as if green chakra were surrounding it and focused on his head. They watched in anticipation waiting for something to happen when they got it.

Sasuke's eyes slowly opened as he woke up. "Sasuke!" Naruto smiled widely while Sasuke sat up on his bed in a daze. It was almost as if he was still trying to wake and didn't even react when Sakura hugged him and started crying. Megumi turned to Naruto and saw him smile sadly before leaving the room. '_Poor Naruto, he really likes Sakura.' _As Tsunade and her assistant Shizune left with him, Megumi stood up and got ready to leave with her own sad smile as she watched Sakura hug Sasuke. '_Why do I feel so jealous?'_

She was almost out the door when she heard a quiet voice, "…Megumi…" She turned and thought it had been her imagination as she saw Sasuke still in a daze.

Sakura wiped her tears as she looked at his face. "What did you say Sasuke?" She was almost afraid of the answer but she wanted to know for sure.

He looked up towards the opposite wall and seemed to be trying to focus. "Megumi…where is she?" He struggled to speak and seemed to be slightly dehydrated. Almost as if she were shocked, Sakura jumped away from Sasuke and started to tear up again. She tried to brush them away but Megumi had already seen them, in hopes of comforting her she tried to put a hand on Sakura's shoulder but was shocked when she slapped her hand away. She received a tear filled glare from Sakura before she ran out of the room. '_What happened?' _ "Megumi?" Sasuke was now fully focused as he looked at her.

"Hey Sasuke, took you long enough to wake up." She said with a smile, she passed him a glass of water that he gulped down in a few seconds. He stared at her with unreadable eyes as she took her seat again.

"What happened? Are you ok?" She assumed he meant after Itachi had knocked him out, and took a drink from her own glass of water before she spoke.

"I'm fine and well after you were hit with Itachi's genjutsu, Jiraiya managed to trap them in the hallway with a Toad Mouth Trap-Jutsu. I don't know how but they still managed to escape." She looked at him as he glared at the mention of his brother. "Guy, Yuki, and I brought you back to the village while Naruto went on a mission to find the next Hokage who is also the woman who healed you. You were in this weird trance for about a month." He stared down at his lap, shocked that he was asleep for so long.

"And Naruto is he hurt?"

Megumi smiled at what she thought was good news. "No, he actually learned a new jutsu. I'm going to have train more since he keeps getting stronger." She laughed. Sasuke just clenched his hands into the blanket as listened to her. '_What have I been doing? Have I really not become stronger? And Naruto, he keeps improving, I won't be able to keep up.'_ Megumi watched with a sad face, she knew he wanted to get stronger and hearing that Naruto was getting better clearly didn't sit well with him.

"Megumi, tell me how you became a rogue ninja." She looked at him in surprise but he was still looking at his clenched hands. "You told me Zabuza and Haku saved you, but from what?"

She traced the rim of her cup and smile as she saw a small whirlpool spinning inside. "I used to have parents, they were really private and liked to live a little outside the Mist village. I always wanted to go to there but was never allowed." She sighed as she looked out the window. "I remember the day I found out about my blood line trait, I was alone like so many times before with a glass of water when I noticed that I had made a small whirlpool inside of it. I really thought I was special and that everyone would be happy." She smirked as she looked back at Sasuke and saw that he was looking at her. "My parents forbade me to use it or even mention it, but of course I had to tell my closest friend." She said with sarcasm.

"Who was your best friend?"

She grabbed one of the daffodils Sakura had brought and started stroking the petals in order to distract herself. "His name was Ren Koroba, he was a 16 year old Chunnin and he was my only friend. After I told him he just left, and later that night he came and killed my mother and father. He worked for the Mizukage of course, and he had been ordered to eliminate all families with Kekkei Genkai. He was happy though, and that's what made me mad, I don't remember how but I managed to escape and lose myself in the Mist village. I was only seven and I already wanted vengeance."

They stayed silent as the open window let in a breeze. Sasuke looked back at his clenched hands. "Did you get your revenge?" He gasped as he looked at Megumi and found tears in her eyes.

"Yes, I did."

…

"Where the hell am I?" Naruto stared wide eyed at what used to be his apartment. His apartment had been cleaned from top to bottom, there weren't any clothes on the ground, all the dishes were clean and put away, and for some reason the room was actually sparkling. "Yuki! Where are you buddy?" He hated to admit, but he was actually thankful to Yuki for cleaning the place he just had to find him and thank him. He walked towards his room when he found himself bumping into something on the ground. "Hmm. Ah Yuki!" He was on the ground wearing an apron with spinning eyes just muttering 'Must clean, must clean.' "No Yuki! You worked too hard! Snap out of it!" Naruto panicked as he shook Yuki by the collar of his shirt. "Snap out of it!"

"Must clean…"

"Yuki!" The villagers didn't even look towards the yells or apartment since they had gotten used to the strange arguments that came from there.

**AN:**

**:( School is back and since it's the last semester for me I get a mountain load of work. What does that mean for you guys? Well, I can only update on Fridays now and today since I found time. Hmm…**

**Please review, I need motivation now more than ever. Darn you school! T_T**

**-Michelle**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Sasuke laid in his hospital bed looking at the ceiling contemplating his thoughts. His frustrations were mounting and the fact that he couldn't even leave this room yet only added to it. '_I'm stuck in here while everyone else is getting stronger. No doubt Naruto is.'_ He glared and grit his teeth at his own thought. It had been two days since he had woken up and he still had two more days until he could go back to his own home. The only people that visited him in that time was Sakura and Ino and it was starting to get on his nerves since all they did was baby him and talk nonstop. '_Where's are you Megumi?' _

Hearing the laughter of children outside, the ticking clock, and the random nurse running outside his door, reminded him of Itachi for some reason and made him glare outside the window as he remembered his words. "You're still too weak, you don't have enough hate to beat me, and you know what? You never will."

"Grr, shut up." He told his own mind. He sat up as he heard approaching footsteps and saw Sakura's silhouette outside his door and stop.

"Yo Sakura! I'm here!" His anger only intensified as he heard the other visitor. '_Naruto…'_

Sakura walked into the room and sat on the right side of his bed as usual. "Look, I brought you some apples. Here, don't they look delicious." Sasuke didn't answer but he had learned that Sakura didn't need one, she could hold a conversation all on her own. She looked around the room as she put the bag of apples down. "That's weird, where'd I put that knife I brought with me?"

Naruto grabbed it from the table next to her. "It's right in front of you Sakura. Ha, you're so lame getting scatterbrained because you're around Sasuke." Sasuke grew furious as they continued to bicker next to him. He couldn't believe that someone as goofy and a screw up like Naruto could possibly be stronger than him and kept getting stronger.

"All done." Sakura smiled as she held up a cut piece of apple towards Sasuke. He turned his glare to her and slapped the apple and plate from her hand which landed on Naruto.

He stood up from the ground and held his head in pain. "Oww, what's the big idea Sasuke?" Sasuke's glare moved towards Naruto and grew a smile full of anger. "Hey, what's with that look? You don't have to glare at me like that."

"Naruto, I want you to fight me. Fight me now!" Naruto looked at him in confusion.

"But we're at a hospital and you just got patched up by granny Tsunade. What are you talki-"

"Shut up and fight!" Sasuke emphasized his words by looking back at him with his Sharingan ready to use. They gasped at how serious he was being towards them. "Did you really think you saved me? I don't care if she's the Fifth Hokage, you should have never gotten her involved in this." He got out of bed and approached Naruto, "After all you did say wanted to fight, well it looks like you got your chance. Unless of course, you chickened out." He smirked at the growl Naruto let out.

They ignored Sakura's pleas to stop and Naruto even started to smirk at Sasuke. "Actually this is perfect, I was just thinking about how I wanted to kick your butt."

"Follow me." Sasuke walked towards the door and didn't even care that he had stepped on Sakura's cut apples. '_Now we'll see who's stronger.' _

….

"Yo Megumi!" Megumi turned around and saw Kakashi walking towards her while reading his Make Out Paradise book. "Let's go visit Sasuke." He said still reading his book.

Megumi looked at the ground and nervously played with her hands. "Well actually I-"

"I don't think that was a request. I've noticed lately that you haven't been speaking to him and I haven't visited him yet, so why don't we go together." He said with a masked smile. She just sighed and followed him knowing she wouldn't win the argument. '_He's right, I shouldn't ignore him just because I found out my real feelings for him.' _She blushed at the thought.

They walked in silence towards the hospital when they noticed something strange at the top of the building. It looked almost like people holding something going towards each other, "Oh no!" She jumped as she heard Kakashi and saw him jump on buildings trying to reach the hospital. She followed him knowing something bad was happening but didn't expect what she saw when she got there.

Sasuke was using his Chidori and Naruto was using his new technique Rasengan. She gasped as she saw Sakura running towards them. '_She'll be killed if they're jutsu connect.'_ She saw Kakashi running to stop Naruto and knew that she had to stop Sasuke.

Megumi quickly got in the middle and quickly did the seals for a jutsu Haku had taught to use only in absolute emergencies. '_I guess this is it.'_ "Ice Release: Protective Ice Dome!" A shield of ice was quickly made in front of her and Sakura just as Sasuke's Chidori hit. His attack was incredibly strong though and she could feel it starting to break her shield and the lighting slightly hit her.

Just as Sasuke touched the ground and stopped his attack he managed to catch Megumi and could see that some of his attack had reached her. "Me-Megumi!" She tried to stand but was finding it to difficult as the lighting left after shocks in her body. Sasuke looked towards Naruto and saw that Kakashi had redirected his attack to hit a water tower and smirked as he only saw a trickle of water fall from the hole.

Kakashi walked to the middle of the roof top and looked at the damage Sasuke and Naruto had done. "You idiots! Do you realize what could have happened if your jutsu had met? Not only would you have killed each other, but Sakura as well!"

Sasuke stood and helped Megumi stand while glaring at his teacher. "I don't need another one of your lectures, Kakashi." He put one of Megumi's arms over his neck and jumped to the fence to leave, just as he was about to go though, he caught another glimpse of the water tower Naruto had hit and saw that the entire back of it was blown away. He tightened his hold on Megumi and jumped away angrily with her. He had taken her to a secluded spot on a tree behind a building and set her down on the branch while he sat down across from her.

Megumi had since recovered from the altercation and looked up at Sasuke with a weak smile. "That jutsu always takes a lot out of me." Her smile fell as she realized her attempt at lighting the mood failed. "I don't know what happened, but I think it had something to do with Itachi." Sasuke glared at her but she wasn't going to stop, he needed to hear what she had to say. "I've seen a lot of people go after revenge, including myself, and they always end up suffering when they find it." She looked at his eyes with the utmost sadness as she saw the hatred grow in them. "You'll only feel more hatred."

He stood on the branch and glared down at her. "You of all people should know how I feel. You've had important people to you killed twice, your parents and your teammates! You should know how much I need to do this!"

"And what do you want me to do? I got my revenge from Ren because I thought it would avenge my family but if anything I think it dishonored them, I didn't even know my family and I find out in his last moments that he still considered me his closest friend." Sasuke stayed silent and just stared at her. "If I had wanted revenge for what happened to Haku and Zabuza that means I would have to kill you and everyone else who was involved. I can't do that, you guys are my friends, you're my best friend." She watched as he sat down again with his head down and thought that she perhaps reached to him.

"Then I guess you aren't strong enough." She gasped as he appeared behind her and could feel the tears falling from her eyes as she realized that Sasuke was lost in the darkness of his mind. She smiled and looked down at her feet and watched her tears mix into the ground.

"So you made your choice huh?" Megumi felt him put his hand on her neck directly on top of a pressure point that would knock her out. "I don't care if you do this to me. I'll just have to wake up and try to get you back again." As she felt him press into the pressure point and started to lose consciousness, she felt him give her a small kiss onto her cheek. She smiled as she was consumed by the darkness in her eyes and still managed to have one more thought.

'_I'm going to pass out blushing. How embarrassing." _

Sasuke looked down at one of closest friends as she lay on the tree and rubbed his eyes as he felt the smallest bit of water in them. He looked up at the full moon that now took up the sky and couldn't help but think about how fast time went by. He rubbed his eyes again and turned away from Megumi as she seemed to be the cause for the irritation and looked at four mysterious figures that were on the building next to the tree. "Who are you?"

….

"Megumi! Wake up!" She put her arm over her eyes as she was blinded by sunlight. She sat up and could see herself surrounded by Yuki, Naruto, and Shikamaru. Shikamaru placed his hand on her arm and looked into her eyes. "Hey, you ok?" She nodded as she rubbed her eyes. "Good, you can tell me why you were out here later, right now I need you to come with us on a retrieval mission for Sasuke. He left late last night and we need enough man power to make sure this mission goes well." She stared at him shock. She had heard and even seen how lazy this guy could be and now he was being the leader of this mission she had somehow been assigned to.

She nodded and stood as she looked at the three of them. Suddenly without warning she hugged the three of them, they hugged her awkwardly and even patted her head like a puppy. "So the jerk actually left." She looked up at them with a smile full of determination. "Let's go get him back and give him an earful." They smiled at her glad that she wasn't emotionally affected by the mission's description. "A shinobi must never show attachment." She muttered to herself.

They were walking towards the village gate with the rest of the team, as the Chunnin and leader of the team, Shikamaru had decided that the more people they had the better the odds. The team included Neji, Kiba, Choji, Yuki, Megumi, Naruto, and Shikamaru. "Alright, the arrangement for this team will be a deployment formation to correspond with the possibility of an enemy assault. If any of you don't follow my direct orders, we're all going to die." They all stood side by side waiting for their assigned spot on the formation. "Ok we'll go with the single file strike position."

While Megumi tried to focus on what Shikamaru was saying, her mind just kept wandering back to the good times she had had with Sasuke. She smirked at her thoughts, '_All our times were good.'_ The memory of Sasuke kissing her on her cheek had her resting her hand on her face and blushing slightly. "Megumi!"

"Hm?" She looked back and saw everyone looking at her in confusion. Shikamaru scratched the back of his head as he looked at her.

"You alright?" She nodded at him and gave him a reassuring smile. "Alright, as I was saying, Neji and Megumi will be in the end. You guys are going to be rear look out, so I need the Byakugan to be able to see all possible directions, and I need your ability Megumi to be able to slow down our movements and be able to see weaknesses in our ranks." He looked at all of them waiting to see if anyone had any questions. "Alright, I saved the most important for last. For as long as I've known him, Sasuke and I have never exactly been friends, quite frankly I don't even like the guy but that doesn't change the fact that he is a shinobi of the Leaf Village and I will risk my life for him. That goes for you guys too, I may seem like a lazy guy, but as the squad leader I will put my life on the line to protect all of yours." They smiled at each other and huddled in order to show each other their available weapons and gear. "Let's move out team!"

"Wait!" They all looked back and saw a crestfallen Sakura watching them with pleading eyes. She started shivering and crying as she held her hands together. "Naruto, I did everything I could to stop him but it wasn't enough. Naruto this is my request; please bring Sasuke back to me." Megumi looked towards Naruto and saw his sad smile and grew annoyed that Sakura was acting this way.

"Sakura, I understand that you want Sasuke back. I probably get it more than anyone here, but that doesn't mean you can let this all ride on Naruto." Sakura stared at Megumi in shock of the hard stare she was getting. Her face slowly turned into a soft smile. "I'm not sure why you were mad at me, but I don't care I promise to help Naruto and this team as best as I can to get him back." Shikamaru stepped up to her and put his hand around her shoulder.

"That's nice to hear but this little interruption has cost us some time, let's get going." He turned her and started walking and leading the team into the forest where they're mission would begin.

Sakura quietly watched them leave and couldn't help but think about what Megumi had said to her and turned to look at the ground. '_I'm not mad at you anymore Megumi, it's not your fault Sasuke cares about you more.'_

**AN:**

**Sasuke you jerk! Ahh but it is part of his charm. O/O**

**Anyway…Review, Review for your life! Please, pretty please.**

**-Michelle**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

They ran through the forest in search of more clues of Sasuke. Kiba was leading, Shikamaru was maintaining the orders, Naruto and Yuki were in charge of defense, Choji was the second defense, and Neji and Megumi were on watch at the back of the line. They kept running in this formation quietly focused and ready for anything when they heard Akamaru start whining inside Kiba's hoodie. "Hey! Akamaru smells blood somewhere nearby. Here's what happened, the scent of two new comers converged with the scent of Sasuke and four others, the two stayed behind while the group moved on. So what now?"

The group looked towards their leader as they continued jumping through the trees. '_Man this is turning out to be such a drag.'_ Shikamaru grit his teeth as he thought about the situation. "Just as I thought. Sasuke's got an escort. The question now is; what do we do?"

"There is no question, we go after Sasuke." Naruto demanded.

Kiba gave Naruto a sneer. "Who died and made you leader? Last time I checked Shikamaru was in charge, let him decide." Yuki was jumping behind Naruto and looked towards their leader.

"Well Shikamaru, what do we do?"

"Seeing as though Akamaru smelled blood, my guess is that there was a battle between Sasuke's group and the two new comers. If we go to the spot where they fought we might be able to gather useful information. Of course we can't just rush in, it might be a trap. So when we get closer we go full reconnaissance mode and go slowly." Shikamaru explained.

Megumi had to agree that it was a good plan, there was just one problem. "But while we do that, Sasuke would have crossed the border out of the land of fire and out of our reach." She spoke up.

They looked towards Shikamaru to see what he would decide as their next move. He stayed silent for a while thinking about all possibilities when he gave a small smirk. "We'll have to go after Sasuke then." They all smiled at him silently agreeing with his choice. "The only problem is that this group has already been in one fight which means they'll be on their guard. Unless they're complete idiots, they're going to know that more ninja are after them. So from this point on proceed with caution, I need everyone to use all their senses. Especially Neji and Megumi, I need you guys to use your eyes now more than ever in case we miss anything, if you get the slightest feeling something is wrong sound the alarm."

Megumi nodded her understanding and looked for any weaknesses in the group while Neji used his Byakugan to scout for enemies. Naruto smiled at the news that they were possibly close. "Ha, when we find them I want to clobber them with this new jutsu I have." Megumi smiled sadly at the thought of his new jutsu, she was so excited to see it but if she just heard about it now she would remember how close Naruto was to killing himself and Sasuke with it.

Akamaru started whining again and they waited for Kiba to translate what he was saying. "The enemy scent is here, all around us!" He gasped which prompted everyone to stop on a branch.

Shikamaru stood in the middle of them looking for anything when his eyes widened. "Look up there, see that?" He pointed at what looked like paper with symbols on a tree.

"A paper bomb, I assume there's five more for a parameter barrier." Neji said, he saw the confused face Choji was giving and decided to explain. "It's a trap ninjutsu. The paper bombs give a slight delay in order for the enemy to get in the middle and give the full affect."

Yuki groaned at the news. "Now we have to waste more time going around it. Great!" he said with frustration. They had decided to walk on the ground in order to better see traps placed for them when Yuki looked towards Naruto. "Try to watch where you're going Naruto, there's trip wire everywhere." Naruto just gave him a glare as he followed everyone else in avoiding the trap.

Megumi smiled at them when she saw something shine on the ground. She gasped as she saw Naruto about to step on a hidden wire. "Naruto stop!"

Sweat dripped from his forehead as his foot stopped centimeters away from it. He turned his eyes and could see Shikamaru holding onto Choji's scarf for leverage as he used his shadow to save Naruto. "Just in time, I managed to get him with my Shadow Possession-Jutsu." Shikamaru was struggling as he maneuvered Naruto away from danger.

Yuki growled as he watched Naruto casually wipe his forehead. "Didn't I tell you to watch your step, Idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot, Idiot!"

They continued walking when Neji told them to stop. "I sense them, one of them must be injured or they're resting. Or is this part of a trap? Byakugan!" He looked ahead and narrowed his eyes when he found something. "I see them, they're resting."

"Alright, let's make a plan first then we take them out." Shikamaru announced. They all gathered in a circle waiting for their assignments. "Ok, we split up and ready for an ambush so we're going to need Kiba to initiate it with smoke bombs. Now Kiba, the timing of the smoke bombs is crucial got it? It's the only way I'll be able to get them with my shadows." Kiba nodded and placed the bombs in his front pocket for better access. "Let's split up."

Megumi paired up with Yuki as they moved through the forest looking for a vantage point to better attack when the time came. She cringed as she saw a moth get trapped by a spider. They moved onto a tree branch and waited for their signal to join the ensuing ambush, and watched the enemy seem to sleep in the middle of a small clearing with a mysterious coffin sitting in the middle. Megumi gasped as one of them through a kunai knife towards a bush and start a chain reaction of explosions.

"Grr, they were found. Now what?" Yuki looked towards Megumi but she was focused on the scene in front of her. Neji and Shikamaru were thrown directly in front the enemy by the explosion from the paper bomb.

Shikamaru tried to peacefully negotiate but the four sound ninja weren't having it. The one with what seemed like eight arms smirked at the Chunnin. "Let's not forget your little friends." Megumi yelled as they were all pulled from their spots by what looked like spider web. She managed to see Kiba pull out something before they were engulfed in smoke. "Ha ha, what's that gonna do? I still have you in my threads. They're so thin you probably can't even see them on you." The smoke cleared away and revealed them all on the ground glaring. "Now why don't we-what? My body!"

"Yeah, you're not the only one who can spring a trap. Thanks for making me look good in front of the squad, I appreciate it." Megumi and the others smiled as they saw that Shikamaru's plan had worked after all and his shadow had successfully gotten all of the enemies. His shadow receded though when he was hit with hidden shuriken. "What was that?"

"Earth Style: Earth Dome Prison!"

They gasped as they were suddenly surrounded by a shell made out of what looked like mud and dirt. It was some kind of barrier, and they all looked for a weak spot to get out. "Let's watch our step guys, this could be another trap for us." Shikamaru tried calming everyone down but only seemed to agitate them more.

"It looks like just a wall and there's no wall I can't punch through." Kiba boasted. He looked towards Shikamaru for approval and received a nod. "Alright." He started by using his Man-Beast technique to grow claws and strength, then jumped into the air and started spinning. "Tunneling Fang!" He drilled into the wall and made a huge dent, but it seemed to start to rebuild itself and look as if nothing had hit it.

Neji took the initiative and used his Byakugan to look into the barrier. "The wall!" His eyes widened as he looked at his own hands. "It's sucking up our chakra!" Everyone's eyes widened at the news, Naruto growled as he looked towards the ceiling.

"Whoever you are, let us out right now! You can't do this to us!" He turned as he heard everyone start falling to the ground.

Yuki held his head as he looked at Naruto. "Calm down Naruto. You can't afford to lose more energy with our chakra being drained." They all sat in silence to tired from the major lose of chakra they were experiencing. "We have to do something Shikamaru and fast too." Yuki struggled to say.

Kiba started digging through his pockets. "That does it, I'm gonna bust us out of here. Akamaru have a food pill." Akamaru started to turn red and more ferocious and started growling as he looked around. "Ninja Art: Human Mimicry. And for me, Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry." Kiba grew more feral looking while Akamaru transformed into Kiba's form, and started spinning into the air drilling into the walls all over. "Fang Over Fang!"

They were all disappointed as they saw Kiba create many dents that only repaired themselves with time. They all sat contemplating the next move but couldn't find any way out of this problem. Shikamaru approached the wall and looked towards where he thought their captor might be. "Hey! I have a deal I wanna make. Let us go and we'll let you keep Sasuke!" They could hear the man laugh outside the dome and knew he didn't want to take the deal. "Oh c'mon. How about you let me go and keep the others?" They all stared at him in shock.

Kiba growled and approached him. "You better not sell us out or I'll ring your neck!"

"Shut up Kiba, for once in your life." He answered still staring at the wall.

Naruto pointed towards Shikamaru. "That's it let's take this outside you dirty little traitor!"

"How you going to do that you moron, we're trapped." Kiba muttered.

"What did you say?"

"I called you a moron, moron!"

"That's what I thought you said!"

Megumi watched in distress as their team seemed to fall apart in front of them. Her eyes widened when she saw Shikamaru get into his thinking stance. Choji saw too and made sure everyone else noticed. "Everyone shut up!" He made sure Shikamaru had enough silence to think properly and took out potato chips to start eating.

Megumi was very confused, Shikamaru was meditating and Choji was eating while Kiba and Naruto just commented about it all. She was taken out of her thoughts when Shikamaru stood. "Neji you still got enough chakra for your Byakugan? I need you to look for the weak spot"

Neji looked unaffected by it all. "Yes I think so."

Yuki smirked as he saw the exchange. '_So it was all a ploy, to get his attention. He wanted to find out where he was.'_

"Alright Kiba, are you up to putting another dent behind Choji?" Shikamaru asked.

Kiba still looked confused but smiled anyway. "Well sure, I'm always up for getting wild. Tunneling Fang!"

Neji quickly looked for the weak spot and marked it with his kunai knife. "Good, now Choji go do your thing."

He quickly threw the empty bag of chips to the ground and put his hands together. "Expansion-Jutsu! Alright here we go. Human Boulder!" He rolled towards the spot marked with the kunai and placed all his strength into his attack. They watched as the wall slowly cracked and then break away to leave an opening for the others to escape.

They got out and finally and were surprised to see only one sound ninja. He was big and all senses of the word and he didn't look happy that someone had managed to break his barrier. "You might have done it once, but I can always do it again. Earth Style: Earth Dome Prison!" They felt the ground start tremble again as the they were about to be engulfed but Choji knew just how to stop it.

"Expansion-Jutsu, Human Boulder!" He quickly used his human boulder technique on the same spot he was standing on to stop the dirt from further moving and created enough debris for everyone to escape in time.

They all sat in a small circle waiting for the next plan. Shikamaru looked at them and shook his head, "We're running out of time, there's no choice but for us to split up." They all looked at him in shock of his decision. "Look if we all stay and fight this guy then Sasuke and his group is just going to be farther away. One group of us will stay and take out this guy and the other will go after Sasuke, got it?" They all nodded reluctantly. Before they could further plan though, the earth started to shake and trees started falling forcing everyone out of their hiding spot. "Alright, Neji will take Kiba, Choji, and Megumi with him to find Sasuke. Naruto and I will stay here with this guy."

The sound ninja just laughed in their faces. "No." They all turned towards Choji and saw his glaring face focused on the enemy. "This guy is mine." He dug through his back holster and took out a small bag. "Shikamaru take these ninja pills for everyone. Don't worry, I got the Akamichi secret weapon with me." No one could argue with him as they realized he had made his choice and quickly started jumping on the trees in hopes of catching up with the enemy group.

Shikamaru quickly passed the bag of pills around the group and they could all feel their chakra starting to replenish immediately. Megumi looked towards their leader with worry in her eyes. "Shikamaru do you think Choji will win? What secret weapon was he talking about?"

"Don't worry about it Megumi. He has the Akamichi clan secret triple threat, they give the person who eats the pills massive amounts of chakra and strength." He looked ahead once he saw Megumi look a little more at ease. '_Of course they also have major side effects, but let's not worry her with that.' _He was at the back of the group and looked at all of them, measuring their strength. "This might not sound nice but I already anticipated what would happen if we all had to fight individually. If we don't go into this risking our lives we won't reach Sasuke, so don't be afraid to give your all."

They had been running ahead for a while when Akamaru gave a small whine signaling that they were close. Neji used his Byakugan and could see them coming up to them. "They're close, I think we might have been underestimated but that could be used to our advantage."

Shikamaru nodded and looked towards where the enemy would be. "Here's the plan, we go after the one with the coffin. Chances are he'll just pass it on though and the others will travel faster so Megumi and Yuki will go after them while the rest of us quickly take out our guy head on."

They quickly spotted the group and everything seemed to go according to what Shikamaru had said. The one with eight arms passed the coffin to the girl and stayed behind to fight the others. Yuki and Megumi quickly started to go after the other two but left a bit worried as they heard the cries of distress behind them. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll see them fine." Yuki was surprised that Megumi was so confident; he was usually the one calming her down. He smirked at her as they continued running keeping the enemy close but not revealing their spot.

They had been running for some time when Yuki felt a presence behind them. "Wait a second." He held out his hand stopping Megumi from walking further and took out a kunai knife with his other hand. The knife gave off a glint of light as he readied to attack the approaching object. His eyes widened as he threw the knife and heard a voice squeal.

"Woah! What the heck was that?" They walked through some trees and saw Naruto rubbing his head on the ground and the knife stuck on the tree where his head would have been. Next to him they saw Kiba and Shikamaru appear. "Why'd you do that idiot!" He yelled at Yuki.

Yuki smirked while he took back his kunai. "Hmph, thought you were an enemy so I took action. Are you saying you wouldn't react like me?" He taunted.

Naruto's face turned red as he stared at Yuki with silent anger and was about to speak out when Megumi beat him. "Where's Neji, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru looked at her with a bittersweet smile. "He decided to stay and fight on his own. Let's not dwell on it though, we're getting close." They all nodded and jumped back into their run in the trees.

**AN:**

**Happy Friday the 13****th****. Hopefully your luck hasn't turned towards the worse, anyway back to the story stuff; Please Review my dear readers! I know you are out there but I need to hear you through the reviews you should all right. That sounds creepy but still, REVIEW PLEASE. **

**-Michelle**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

They were running through the trees catching up to the enemy, feeling them slowing down and getting nearer. They were silent and in worry, Kiba sniffed the air and couldn't make out Neji's scent anymore. "Well I guess it's just us now."

Yuki gave him with a nod and turned towards Shikamaru. "I think you might be right, Shikamaru. Our only chance at completing this mission is by fighting individually." Megumi and Naruto gave them confused faces. Shikamaru kept the same composed face as he looked ahead and answered them.

"We have a better chance at fighting them individually because of the theory I have that the stronger sound ninja is going to stay protecting Sasuke the longest meaning the others are more like decoys. If my theory is right then we have the upper hand because of the fact that we out number them. We'd be able to at least over power the enemy."

Megumi nodded in understanding but still had her doubts. "But your theory could also work the other way. It could be that we're being underestimated and the weaker ones will be the last."

"I thought of that already and figured that they are underestimating us, or at least three of the four of them are. My guess is that whichever one is the real leader will stay last knowing they will have the highest chance at surviving."

Megumi just sighed as she looked forward again. "Neji better be alright."

"Don't worry. I know he'll be fine." She gave Naruto a look of uncertainty while he gave her a smile. "I know because Neji is a true genius." Megumi looked up into the sky and could see a hazel colored bird fly through it. '_I hope you're right.'_

They had been running for a while and could now see the dark night quickly forming into a morning sky. Megumi had just finished taking another soldier pill when Shikamaru spoke again. "Alright, morning's coming so we have to be ready to attack and finish this mission." He smirked as the sunrise and showed their enemies across where they were standing on a branch. "Well what do you know?"

The man with grey hair growled as he looked at them. "Tch, you might have caught up to us but that doesn't mean anything." He jumped towards them and Megumi and Yuki quickly reacted by attacking him head on. "Barage of Punches!" It was almost as if he had double the hands as he threw multiple punches in their direction and were lucky they were able to counter most in time for Naruto to get his Rasengan ready.

They jumped back in time as Naruto aimed his attack to the sound ninja. "Wha-?" His eyes widened as Naruto saw his arm get caught in time. "But, how?"

"Heh, how are you supposed to hit someone with it if you can't even throw it?" The sound ninja's eyes widened as Kiba suddenly burst through the trees and Naruto and went to hit the ninja. "A clone?" He managed to dodge in time but realized to late that Kiba was actually going for his teammate. "Tayuya, watch out!" She was about to jump away when she felt herself become paralyzed.

"W-what?" she managed to look down and see her shadow connected to Shikamaru's. "Oh no!" Kiba stopped spinning in time to grab the coffin with Sasuke inside and jump away. They all managed to catch up with him and headed away from the enemy.

"Yay teamwork!" Megumi yelled happily with Kiba. They finally had Sasuke back and could go home, of course Shikamaru had to ruin the moment.

"Let's not celebrate so soon, we're still being chased." She looked back and could see them quickly catching up, but with Yuki managing to set off the paper traps they placed, they were seemed to have lost them. Suddenly a thread came from the smoke and trapped Akamaru to a tree with a paper bomb on it.

"Akamaru!" Kiba went to get his pup but the male sound ninja was going after them too. Almost in slow motion, the bomb went off and threw them out of the smoke and into a ditch down a cliff.

They all waited for Kiba and the enemy to come back up but they didn't come. "Oh no. What do we do?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru growled in frustration as they were joined by Tayuya. "We have no choice." He stated as he saw Yuki carrying the coffin. "Yuki, take Naruto and Megumi with you and head back to the village with the coffin, I'll take care of this one." Shikamaru got into position as he saw the girl head towards him but she stopped and looked in shock behind them.

"What? What are you doing here?" Megumi looked back along with the others in time to see another person come between them and take the coffin away from them in what seemed like less than a second. "Kimimaro…" The newcomer did not look happy as he brushed aside a bit of his grayish hair.

"You were taking too long Tayuya."

"But how, by now your body should…"

"My body has reached the point of being pointless, now I use shear will power to continue." They all looked on in shock of the new enemy. '_How can he be moving from shear will power?' _Megumi looked at him in question. "I have had a taste of Lord Orochimaru's dream." He looked down at the coffin in almost a loving way. "This vessel is a part of his dream. Unfortunately, you took too long in retrieving it." Tayuya looked almost afraid as she listened to Kimimaro.

"Hey you freak, I'm sick of all this nonsense and I'm taking Sasuke back now!" Naruto quickly jumped after him but was punched away by Tayuya.

Yuki managed to catch him in time though and land on another tree branch safely. "You idiot! Why would you just jump in like that?" Megumi and Shikamaru moved down with them and looked at towards their enemies and saw Kimimaro jump away with Sasuke.

"He's taking Sasuke." Megumi muttered. "We have to go get him!"

"Calm down Megumi." Shikamaru stated.

Tayuya looked on from her vantage point as they whispered to each other obviously making a plan. She smirked and pulled out a flute ready to play. "Well, what are you going to do you wimps?"

They all pulled out their weapons and readied to attack. "It's four against one, we just need to gang up on her."

Megumi looked at Shikamaru in question, "What? But what about Sasuke? That guy Kimimaro is getting away with him." He released a small growl of frustration as he realized she was right.

He put his kunai at the ready as he stared at Tayuya. "Yuki! Take Naruto and Megumi and go after that guy Kimimaro. I have a feeling he might be stronger than the girl and you guys are going to need all your strength. From this point on, you'll be leading this mission."

Yuki hesitated but understood where his line of thinking was coming from. "You sure about this, Shikamaru?"

He smirked as he looked at Yuki from the corner of his eye. "Hmph, if anyone can get Sasuke back it would have to be those two." Shikamaru joked with a nod towards Naruto and Megumi. "Besides, I need someone who can sort of control those two."

Yuki nodded and turned towards his other two teammates. "Let's go." They gave a short nod and jumped into the trees where their new enemy had gone.

Megumi looked back and could barely see Shikamaru as he disappeared behind the trees while they moved towards their target. '_So it's down to three.'_

…

They had been running trying to catch up to Kimimaro for some time when they finally saw a break of sunlight come through the trees as they jumped from the last tree into a clearing of grass and saw their enemy standing right in front of them waiting.

Yuki and Megumi panted and turned to see Naruto but gasped at what they saw, his eyes were red and his teeth were sharper as he growled. '_It's just like before…'_ Megumi couldn't help but be scared as she thought back to the last time he was like this. She turned sharply as she saw Kimimaro take out a weapon from under his sleeve.

"Let's see, how should I destroy you?"

Naruto growled once more as he looked at him with a feral stare. "Tell me what Orochimaru is planning! Why does he want Sasuke?"

Kimimaro smirked. "Lord Orochimaru has already attained the immortality jutsu, but a vast amount of time is required to attain every jutsu and everything he wants in this world. Unfortunately, just because he's immortal doesn't mean his body can maintain itself forever. So, before his flesh decays he must find a new able body to become a vessel for his soul."

Megumi unsheathed her katana as she heard his words. "You're insane! Are you really saying he's going to take Sasuke's body?"

Somehow Kimimaro was able to take out a bone like sword from out of his arm and point it at them in a changeling way. "Yes, that's precisely it." Naruto suddenly started to surround himself with red chakra when smoke covered the area to reveal hundreds of Narutos around them.

"You're not taking Sasuke anywhere!"

"Oh, did I make you angry? Come then." Kimimaro grew another bone like sword from his other arm as he waited for the next move. Yuki feared that with Naruto's already erratic personality he would jump at any moment.

"Naruto, don't do anything stupid! This guy obviously wants you to go after him." He yelled at the many Narutos but they just let out a growl as one of them spoke.

"Then let's give him what he wants!" He yelled as they all charged.

"Naruto, no!" Yuki could only yell as Naruto and his clones went after Kimimaro who had gone into a defensive position.

With incredible speed he had managed to dispel most of Naruto's clones that tried to hit him. "Alright, I suppose it's time I got serious. I'm ending this fight right now." Megumi's eyes widened at his statement. '_He managed to hold off that many clones and he wasn't even trying? Who is this guy?' _He jumped into the air and started to strategically destroy each clone and had even managed to get a few to destroy each other. Yuki and Megumi watched idly knowing that they could do nothing, at least until all of the clones had been dispelled. "Now behold The Willow Dance!" Kimimaro charged through the crowd of clones and managed to destroy all them with extreme speed and dexterity as he looked for the real Naruto.

Formulating a plan, Naruto tackled him with about six clones but somehow they were all still destroyed. "W-what? But how?" He stated from the ground, the smoke from the clones cleared away to reveal Kimimaro with bones protruding from all over his body.

Kimimaro remained in his defensive position. "Now you know. This is my Kekei Genkai!" Megumi's and Yuki's eyes widened, their enemy had now become twice as powerful. '_This is bad, I need to think! I'm the leader so I'm supposed to know what to do!'_ Yuki ground his teeth in frustration as he realized that they didn't have many options. '_He's not just going to hand over Sasuke and with his speed I doubt one of us could sneak off with him. What do we do?'_ They watched as his bones retracted back into his body and leave no sign of ever being out. Kimimaro slowly pulled off one side of his shirt to reveal his bone on his shoulder slowly coming out of his skin; he grabbed it and quickly pulled it out of his body without even the slightest flinch and held towards them like a sharp sword.

Yuki looked around and saw that there were only a few Narutos left and decided to take things into his own hands. He quickly took out a couple of shuriken and threw them towards Kimimaro's back but they were quickly blocked with his bone like sword. "What are you?" He silently questioned.

"It's no use. This bone is of the highest density, as hard as steel. I have five dances in my arsenal, you've only seen one. Why not continue with The Chameleon Dance?" Both Yuki and Naruto threw more shuriken at him in hopes of slowing him down but were only discouraged as the weapons were cut in half. He once again went after the clones but this time he went a specific path leading to Megumi, he lowered his sword towards her and smirked as she barely managed to block in time with her own blade. "You've been awfully quiet, little girl."

"Get away from her!" Kimimaro pushed her to the ground and turned his attention back to Naruto and Yuki. It was futile though, no matter how many Narutos there were they always got destroyed. Eventually Yuki and Naruto found themselves alone with Kimimaro as they stood protectively in front of Megumi. She stood up and gave them a defiant glare clearly stating she didn't need protecting.

Kimimaro just gave a smirk as he saw how weak and tired they looked. "It's come at last." He stated cryptically. "The moment I've been waiting for, the first step to achieving Lord Orochimaru's design." Suddenly they all noticed that the seals on Sasuke's coffin had broken and were soon engulphed in a cloud of smoke as it exploded.

They watched in anticipation waiting to see if Sasuke was alright. Megumi gasped at what she saw; Sasuke had longer spikier hair that had a purple color and his skin was such a sickly shade he almost looked grey. '_What happened?'_ She thought with sadness, the differences soon disappeared though and showed a normal looking Sasuke staring at his hands. "Sasuke…" She turned towards the sound of Naruto's voice and noticed that his blue eyes had returned and he looked normal again, she gave a sharp breath as she saw him start laughing and waving towards him. "Hey Sasuke! What are you doing hanging out with these losers? C'mon, let's go home!" He faltered as he heard Sasuke start laughing. "…Sasuke… Have you gone deaf or something?" He tried joking but Sasuke kept on laughing. "Talk to me!"

But he wouldn't listen, he continued laughing and soon jumped away leaving them shocked. Naruto was about to go after him when Kimimaro suddenly appeared next to him with two swords ready to attack him. "It's no use, now die!" Yuki was able to put enough chakra into a kunai knife and was able send one of Kimimaro's blades flying. "No matter, I still have another." He was about to hit Naruto when someone appeared from the sky and kicked him out of the way. He coughed as he recovered a few feet away. "Who's this?"

"It is I, the rejuvenated Hidden Leaf Village's Handsome Devil. Rock Lee!"

Megumi stared in shock as Lee stood in his signature stance ready for battle. "Lee? But what about your injuries, are you sure you can fight?" He turned towards her and a gave her a wink.

"Do not worry about me. Naruto, go after Sasuke we can handle things here." He glared towards Kimimaro as he focused.

"Are you sure Bushy-Brow, this guy's pretty tough. He uses his own bones as weapons."

"Do not underestimate us, now go." Naruto nodded and jumped away towards where Sasuke had left to.

"Oh I don't think so." Kimimaro suddenly jumped over them all and went to strike down Naruto when his blade was caught between Lee's hands.

"I do not like to be ignored. You cannot afford to be distracted." He threw aside his blade and mildy deterred Kimimaro enough to be able to land a kick on his shoulder and jump back towards Yuki and Megumi. "Excellent. My body is responding perfectly." He stated.

"Hey, Rock Lee. I know you're pretty good when it comes to the speed and all that, but don't let that get to your head this guy is in a whole other league." Yuki stated next to him.

Kimimaro recovered as he looked up and focused on Yuki. "I'm sure you don't remember me but I remember you Yuki. Even if we never spoke, I could never really forget that strength in your eyes."

Yuki gave him a look of confusion. "What are you talking about?" His eyes widened as he saw a flash of a young boy with pale grayish hair in the mist.

"Ah, I see your starting to remember. I guess I'm going to have to give you a push." He ran after them, but Yuki quickly picked up Megumi and moved her aside.

"Megumi I need you to go find Naruto and help him." He gave her a reassuring smile as he patted her head like a puppy. "It's like Shikamaru said, if anyone could get Sasuke back it would have to be you two. So go." She gave him a nervous nod and small kiss on his cheek as she ran towards Naruto's direction. Yuki held his cheek for a bit and turned back towards the fight going on between Lee and Kimimaro. "Talk about blast from the past."

**AN:**

**Sorry it's been a while. I've been having a lot of computer troubles but it should be good as ok now.**

**On another note, I wanted to say thanks to all the people who have supported and shown interest in this story. It's always nice motivation to know that someone wants to know what happens next so thank you.**

**Please Review if you will.**

**-Michelle**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Yuki ran towards the battle as he saw Lee try to use his leaf hurricane move and took advantage of kicking Kimimaro in the stomach as he went into the air. They continued exchanging blows and throwing kicks as the battle wore on. Yuki and Lee were almost like a tag team as they each took a turn to attack Kimimaro and they both focused on taijutsu as their main form of attack. They were so focused on each other's moves though that they didn't notice the openings they left in their own. Yuki felt the air knocked out of him as Kimimaro hit him with the back of his sword and then proceed to lower it on Lee who he had kicked to the ground.

Yuki shut his eyes waiting for the sound of the sharp bone hitting flesh when instead he heard Lee. "Wait!" He opened his eyes and saw Kimimaro's blade inches away from Lee. "I am so sorry, but I have to take my medicine at a certain time and that time happens to be now." Yuki stared in shock not only at Lee for stopping the fight but at Kimimaro for actually allowing it. "Excuse me; it will only take a minute. To be honest I never really liked medicine." Yuki sweat dropped at the scene. '_Now he's making small talk? Incredible.'_ Lee drank from the bottle of medicine he took out and almost immediately started fumbling in his steps. "Whoa, who moved the ground?" He mumbled. '_Now he's drunk or something, great.' _

Yuki's eyes widened as Lee fell into his arms. "What the hell, Lee!Why are you acting this way?" He dropped him in order to dodge an oncoming punch from his comrade.

"You jerk! Don't talk to me like that!" He slurred. He looked towards Kimimaro and got into a strange battle stance. "What are you looking at you jerk!" Lee stumbled towards him and raised his hand in a challenging manner. "What is wrong with you? Don't you know it's impolite to stare?" He ran after Kimimaro and the both of them went a barrage of hits that Yuki could barely keep up with.

"He's faster than ever." He said to himself. Lee jumped back with half lidded eyes as he stared back at Kimimaro and gave a loud yawn.

"Aww, all this fighting makes me sleepy." He gave another yawn and fell on his back unconscious. Yuki felt his eye twitch as he saw what happened. '_You idiot.' _He ran after Kimimaro and managed to block all of his attacks. '_He must be getting slower.'_ He thought to soon though as he felt himself get slashed to the side and placed his hand over his wound. He didn't think it was too deep thankfully, but Kimimaro had taken advantage of the moment and was about to reach Lee.

"Now for you." Kimimaro approached Lee and pointed his sword at him when he felt himself get pulled forward towards his face.

"Aha, you fell for it!" Lee punched him in the face and even managed to kick him in the stomach and sent Kimimaro flying. "Guy Sensei! If only you could see me!" He slurred as he once again fell asleep. Kimimaro stood and approached more carefully but Lee once again was able to slither back up to his feet. "Looks like you fell for it again!" He looked confused though. "Wait a second. Where am I? What am I doing here?" He fell back asleep a third time and Kimimaro didn't waste any time as he tried stab Lee, but he still managed to dodge all of his attacks by rolling in his sleep.

He was about to strike again when he found his sword hitting a kunai knife. "Alright that's enough. It's obvious Lee needs some sleep so why don't we keep ourselves busy till he wakes up, hmm?" Yuki was tired of staying in the sidelines and especially tired of Lee's jokes. He received a grunt as an answer and proceeded to run after Yuki instead.

Yuki was trying his best as he dodged all his moves but could still feel the pain coming from his side wound. He stopped one of Kimimaro's attacks with his foot and launched himself a couple of meters backwards with the sword. He looked down at his hand and found it covered in his blood. "This is bad; I'm losing quite a bit of blood here." He still had some chakra but his energy was running low. He looked up and saw that his enemy now had bones coming out from all over his body. "Only one thing to do." He charged after Kimimaro and felt his punches land but make no damage on his bones, he threw kunais and shurikens but growled as they were cut down. "Damn it."

He dodged some attacks but he could feel himself starting to slow down and quickly did some hand seals as he saw a bone blade about to hit him. "Water Transformation-Jutsu!" The blade swiftly cut through him but Yuki couldn't help but smirk at Kimimaro as he slowly dissolved into the earth as water. He moved through the liquids found in the earth and crawled out of the ground a few meters away already making hand signs for his next attack. "Water Style: Water Vortex-Jutsu!" He could feel the chakra leave his body as it turned into water and directly hit Kimimaro.

He gave short pants of air as his body neared exhaustion waiting to see what had happened. Yuki's eyes widened as the vortex seemed to get cut through by his enemy spinning and using his bones to get him to the other side. "Well Yuki, I must say that was quite impressive, but it seems it wasn't enough." Yuki coughed a bit of blood and closed his eyes readying himself for the inevitable end. "You're done! Wha-?" Yuki opened his eyes to see a sharp bone centimeters away from his face and a bit of sand surrounding it. He felt himself get picked up and looked down to see sand moving him, he landed next to Lee and looked up to see Gaara. "Sand Shinobi."

Lee soon started to move and opened his eyes as he woke up. "What happened? Ah! Yuki what happened to you?"

"That's not important. We're still in a battle and you seem to have forgotten what has been happening here, not to mention our new friend Gaara is here now." Yuki stated with frustration as he struggled to stay awake. "Nice to see you, Gaara. I never thought I would be saying that."

"Where's Megumi?"

"After Sasuke. If you don't mind now, let's focus on this battle." He tried to stand but found it too difficult to move. '_Damn it! The wound must have been deeper than I thought. I'm done for.' _ "Hey Gaara." He called, the sand ninja looked down towards him with only a hint of worry in his eyes. "Make sure you win…so you c-can…take care of Megumi for…me…" His vision was engulfed in darkness and the last thing he heard was Lee yell his name in panic. He couldn't help but think back to when he had first met Kimimaro. '_It's been so long. So many years, and we didn't even say much to each other.'_

He had been young, he was leaving the village with Haku and Zabuza and they were on their way to some place to meet someone when they came across a running boy with light gray hair and a strange knife. He stopped in front of them panting as he held up the weapon. "Are-are you from the Mist Village?"

He remembered looking at Zabuza in confusion as he heard his answer. "No." The boy looked flustered and even a bit embarrassed.

"Oh, I-I see. Sorry." He moved to run ahead when Yuki noticed something and stopped him.

"Wait." He dug through his backpack and took out a small canteen with water and an apple. "Here, it looks like you need energy; I'm Yuki by the way." He smiled. The boy gave him a look of disbelief but accepted the gifts anyway.

"Thank you, my name is Kimimaro." He responded with a light blush.

"Well, whatever it is your doing Kimimaro I hope it works out." With that said they smiled at each other and went their separate ways. Zabuza watched the interaction and turned to continued walking.

"Let's go Yuki; we still have to introduce you to your new teammate. Hopefully you'll be nice to her like you were with that boy." The memory faded and Yuki couldn't help but think of their eyes, including Kimimaro's and Megumi's, it wasn't like Haku or Megumi having the same ability but they all had the same look in them at one point of their eyes; hatred, loneliness, and a spark full of potential. '_Kindred spirits, I guess.' _He couldn't help but focus his thoughts on Megumi next. '_She's going to hate me for leaving her on her own now. I wish I could have said good-bye.'_

…

Megumi stopped in her running as she felt a feeling of dread creep up on her. She hugged herself as her thoughts immediately went to Yuki, '_He better be alright.'_ She thought as she started running again, it had been a while and she still hadn't found Naruto yet. "Where are you?" She muttered in frustration. There was no trace or hint of what direction he had gone towards but she relied wholly on instinct and knew that she would find him.

"Instinct can sometimes make the best decisions." She remembered Haku telling her once. She ran into a sort of cave like trail and could hear running water. She looked at the walls and gasped as she saw her reflection. As she put her hand on the wall she could feel the cool sensation of water and realized that all of the walls had running water on them.

She became enthralled as she turned and saw herself reflected all over the small tunnel. She even gave small laugh but her happy mood soon disappeared as she saw Sasuke reflected on a wall. He was covered in the strange marks from his curse mark. She tried to reach out to him but flinched when he gave her a dark glare. "…Sasuke." Megumi was confused, why wasn't he speaking? As she tried to approach again he smirked mockingly at her and turned and walked away. "Sasuke!" She ran towards with outstretched arms but her hands only met the hard stone and the running water that didn't feel so refreshing anymore. She kept hitting the wall with her hands and could even feel them starting bruise and cut but she wouldn't stop. "Sasuke! Don't leave me!" She slumped to the ground and felt the tears running down her face as she kept repeating his name.

"Get up, Megumi. You're getting all dirty." She looked up and looked for Yuki but he was nowhere in sight.

"Geez, what a drag. I leave you guys alone for a while and this happens." She looked around again for Shikamaru but she couldn't find them.

"Over here." She heard a small bark after Kiba spoke. She got up and turned around to see them all reflected on the rock wall. The entire team was there; Yuki, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, Choji, even Lee.

"Wha?" Megumi approached them and wiped her tears away. She soon realized that they all looked fine and didn't have a single scratch on them. "You're all in my head." She said to herself.

"You could say that." Neji responded.

"Hey, that doesn't mean we can't help you." Choji added.

Megumi looked down at her feet. "How? How can you guys help me? I don't even know where to find Naruto and Sasuke. What if they're hurt or worse?" She brushed away tears but could still feel them coming.

"Didn't I tell you that instinct can sometimes make the best decisions?" She gasped and looked up to see Haku's reflection next to Yuki. "I know you can find them, Megumi."

Shikamaru gave her a lazy smirk. "Yeah, if anyone can it would have to be you."

She looked uncertainly at her hands and at the Katana she still had in her grasp. "Do it for us, Megumi." Yuki spoke.

"Yes Megumi, you must continue. You carry an incredible fire inside of you and the power of youth will guide you!" Lee encouraged with a thumbs up and a wink.

"At least try. Try and this mission will still have a chance at succeeding." Neji urged.

Megumi looked up and could see them all start to walk away like Sasuke had. She straightened herself and looked at her own reflection. She was smirking and had a renewed vigor in her eyes. "Thank you, guys. I'll try just for you." She put her Katana back in her sheath and even fixed her hair a bit and wiped the dirt off herself. "I'm going to bring them both back, and then come after you guys, so you better be alive for your sakes." She joked.

She walked towards the end of the cave and could begin to see light at the end of it. She ran forward and was surprised that the light wasn't from the sun, but from thunder coming from a storm in the dark sky. '_How long has it been?' _She soon found herself in front of a giant waterfall with two rock monuments of the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha, who had both found the Leaf Village. She walked to the edge and saw two figures next to the river at the bottom of the cliff. She jumped down and saw Naruto on the ground unconscious and Sasuke looking into the sky as it started to rain.

"Sasuke."

**AN: **

**As a sort of sorry for not updating for a while, I wrote another chapter as a bonus! I hope you like it. I actually can't wait to write the next one; it's going to be all about Sasuke and Megumi. :D**

**Well, like I always say; Reviews make me happy and happiness makes the world happy so please Review.**

**-Michelle **


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Sasuke."

He looked towards Megumi with a blank stare as the rain lightly fell on his face. She approached him but checked on Naruto on the ground and let out a sigh of relief that he was still barely alive. "So you care about him more than me now."

She gave her own blank stare as she stood up in front of him. "You're not the one on the floor dying." Her blank stare soon turned into one of sadness as she looked up into his eyes. "Why are you doing this? You know that revenge will only leave you feeling empty. You have everything in the Leaf Village so why would you just throw it all away? Friends a future! Doesn't that matter?"

He approached her and placed his hand into her hair. She thought that maybe he was being endearing and that perhaps he would go back to her, but the moment was destroyed as she gave a small yell of pain when he yanked her forward with her hair and stared at her with that still blank face. "You really think I'm going to go back to that place? It means nothing to me, nothing at all. I don't care about my future, I care about my goal." He pushed her away and watched as she found her footing.

"Sasuke, please stay. I can't lose you, too." She said with pleading eyes as she ignored the slight pain she felt in her head.

He gave her a smirk as he stepped away from Naruto's body. "What are you going to do, Megumi? You can see that I honestly did try to kill Naruto. What makes you think I won't try to kill you?"

She stared at him with her sad face and looked down as she took out her katana. She pointed it towards him and could see him at the end of the blade still smirking. She gave out a yell of frustration and threw the katana to the ground. "I hate that you're making me do this Sasuke!" He frowned at the hatred in her voice. "I hate to say it but I'm not like Sakura. I'm not going to cry and beg for you to stay anymore and I'm not going to sit around and let others do the work!"

"So then why did you throw your weapon?" He said with a wave to the sword on the ground.

"I'm not going to fight you or try to get you back to the village by force. I wouldn't be able to stand it to see you behind bars." She slowly approached him and looked at him with defiance in her eyes. "But I will try to at least keep you out of Orochimaru's grasp for as long as I can."

He started to silently laugh as he watched her. "So you're going to try to stall for time until other get here. You know what, Megumi? I've always wondered what would happen if water and fire fought. Would the fire evaporate the water? Or would the water douse the flame? We should find out!" He soon jumped back and started making hand signs aimed towards her. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower-Jutsu!" Almost like second nature, she quickly did the signs for the Water Clone-Jutsu and dissolved into water as the flame hit the clone.

Sasuke looked towards the river and saw Megumi crawl out of the water. "I'm not going to fight!" She yelled. She looked towards him and could see that he was exhausted, probably from fighting Naruto. She was also tired from all the running and chakra that had been spent throughout the days.

"Fight you coward!" He ran at her and started trying to hit her with punches and kicks but she merely dodged or blocked. At one point she saw his foot about to hit her and stayed still as hit her on side and sent her flying into the water. She was thankful that she was underwater for a bit, he wouldn't be able to see the tears she certainly felt. The water surrounding her disappeared as she was lifted up by Sasuke. "Why are you doing this? Fight!" He yelled as he shook her.

She grabbed his wrists and gave him a smile he knew too well. "I'm not going to try and hurt you. You're too special to me to hurt." He fell to his knees on the water and held her close. "I'm not going to fight you."

"Why?"

"I already told you. You're too special to me. I love you, Sasuke." She said softly. He started to shake against her and soon started to laugh before he pushed her away again.

"You say you're not like Sakura but you're wrong. Just because you both say you love me won't make a single difference, I'm still going to leave and there's nothing that will change it. You mean nothing to me." He had on such a cruel smile that she couldn't help but shiver. "Why would I ever care about a broken girl like you? You can't even take care of yourself; you're nothing more than a burden to me."

"That's not true. I remember when you hurt or would push me or even bump into me by accident, you would always apologize. Why would you say sorry if you didn't mean it? That's not like you at all." His laughter died down and he stared at her with a frown. "You even gave me back the flower I had given you. You said that it would be a way to make sure we stayed friends, that's how I know you at least somewhat care about me."

His eyes faded into the well known red color of the Sharingan as he glared daggers at her. "You might be right. I really do care about you, I always thought of you as one of my closest friends but that doesn't mean I won't be able to kill you." He said with a threatening step forward.

She looked up at him with that damn smile that he always seemed to like for some reason. "I'm only going to say this one last time Sasuke. I love you." She didn't flinch as he stepped even closer and picked up her katana from the ground. His frowned deepened as he saw her bright smile become sad. '_Don't be sad Megumi, I don't deserve your love after what I'm going to do.'_ She approached him slowly, "I of all people know how you feel right now. That's why I'm going to let you go, alright?" His eyes widened as he heard her words.

"What makes you think you could have stopped me?" He brought up the blade and laid it lazily on her shoulder where he could easily drag it across her neck and end her life.

She laughed quietly. "That's right; I don't even want to fight. What I mean is I don't want to try anymore." He could see her already sad features fill with more sorrow. "What's the point if you're going to hate me for it? So go, I won't do anything and if we ever do see each other again after this then I won't do anything then either." He couldn't take looking at her piercing brown eyes and had to look away.

"You're all idiots for trying to come after me." He simply stated. "The others are probably dead and for what? A mission that was doomed from the start." He put slight pressure on the blade and could see a small drop of blood forming on Megumi's neck. "So, you love me?" He murmured as he watched the drop fade into her clothing.

"You know I'm not going to say it again." She flinched a bit as she felt him put his hand in her hair again fearing that he might tug on it again. By then the rain was falling heavily and they were completely wet. She looked into his eyes and could see his Sharingan had gained a third coma like shape. "You're Sharingan is fully matured now. I don't see how you can get stronger than you already are." She chuckled.

He stroked her cheek gently and removed her blade from her neck. "It's the mark. It made me stronger and I know that Orochimaru can give me even more strength." He looked at himself and Megumi and could see how much they had gone through in those few days. "We look terrible." He smirked.

"Thanks a lot." She said sarcastically. It was incredible how they could still joke with each other when moments ago they were facing each other with the threat of death. "Are you going to go now?" She looked up into his eyes when he didn't answer but she already knew. "Well, you have to at least take this." She took out a scroll from her holster and opened to reveal the purple pressed flower he had given back to her. "If we're not going to see each other anymore, I want there to be some hope that we'll maybe see each other again. So please return it."

He stared at her blankly and at the flower she was holding out to him, he slowly took it and just twirled in his fingers. "I should get going." He was still looking at the flower, trapped in the memory of their first meeting when things were so much easier. Sasuke didn't move as he felt Megumi lean up towards him and give him a kiss on the cheek. He could feel his face heating up but it didn't change his blank stare. "I'll see you later, Megumi." With one last smirk he turned and walked in the other direction.

She felt helpless as she watched him leave and long after he had disappeared from her sight did she feel a slight smile appear on her face. "We're going to see each other again." She muttered with confidence as she thought back to his parting words. She walked back to Naruto's form on the ground and checked to make sure he was alright. Somehow he had healed during the time when she was first checked him and he seemed to be alright, he just needed a stay in the hospital to be sure.

Kakashi soon appeared next to her with Pakkun and kneeled down towards Naruto. "You were too late." He stated sadly.

She looked at him with what looked like a bit of a broken spirit. "Yeah, we all were." She smiled sadly at the sky as they parted to reveal sunlight. '_Fate sure has a funny plan for me. They give me something I love and then take it away.'_ Kakashi lifted Naruto into his arms. "Is he going to be alright?"

"I'm not sure." He stated. She wasn't sure if he meant physically or emotionally.

….

"…..Yuki….."

"…..Yuki!" He heard a small voice. '_Who is that?'_

"…Yuki, wake up!" They sounded so sad. '_Why does that voice sound so familiar?" _He opened his eyes and could make out a blurry figure in front of him. "Thank goodness! You're ok."

"Me-Megumi." He croaked. As his eyes focused, Yuki could see Megumi next to him wiping her tears and shaking. "Wha?"

She was shaking and heavily crying as she wiped her face. "You're ok. You're all ok. I thought you all had left me alone. I was so worried." She sat down heavily as she looked at him in relief.

"What happened? Are you and the others fine?" Yuki asked weakly. He saw her look of relief turn into one of even deeper sadness.

"We're all fine now. Half an hour ago though, Shikamaru and I were panicking. Neji and Choji were so hurt that they had to go to surgery to see if they would make it. And Naruto and Kiba were so seriously injured that they had to be watched carefully. Then you had to go into cardiac arrest." She said with renewed tear filled eyes. "You had used all your chakra and you weren't responding to anything the doctors would do." Yuki took hold of her hand as she began to shake again. "I thought you were going to leave me too. I wouldn't have been able to take losing you along with Sasuke."

Yuki stared blankly at the ceiling thinking about the flood of big news he had just received. Not only was everyone hurt, but the mission had failed. Sasuke left and there was nothing they could do now. He squeezed Megumi's small hand. "We'll figure something out to get him back." He tried to encourage.

She shook her head as she smiled at him. "That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you're all perfectly alive." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You have to rest now. I'll come back tomorrow to see how you are." With that said she walked out of the room to let him rest.

Megumi had been walking down the hallway when she came across Sakura. They stopped in front of each other silently taking in the situation. "You were right." Megumi looked up as Sakura spoke. "I shouldn't have let this all weigh on Naruto. Now he thinks it's his entire fault, because of me."

"Don't just blame yourself Sakura. If you really want to make things better then why don't you start training more intensely and not just with Kakashi and Naruto. Maybe then you'll feel more confident to act."

Sakura looked at her with a melancholy gaze. "You always know what to say Megumi. No wonder Sasuke actually cared about you." She walked by her without another glance.

"….." She watched her leave, distancing herself from Megumi in more than just the literal sense. Even more stress weighed down on her as the thought of her possibly losing her friendship with Sakura entered her mind.

…..

It had been a couple of days since the fateful return of the Sasuke Retrieval Team and Megumi and Yuki now found themselves in front of the Fifth Hokage awaiting their future status in the village. Tsunade looked up from the file she had been reading and gave them a very stern look.

"So, not only are you both rogue ninja from the hidden mist, but you were also accomplices with S-rank criminal shinobi Zabuza Momochi, you were part of the plan to assassinate the Mizukage a couple of years back, and you somehow snuck into this village undetected and participated in the Chunnin Exams under false information. Now tell me, why should I let you two live?" They didn't say anything and continued staring at her. "Nothing to say, huh. Well let me tell you this, I'm going to let you keep your lives." They both looked at her in shock as she gave them a playful smirk. "Not only did you both help the village when it was under attack, but you also risked your lives for a ninja from another village."

Megumi couldn't believe what she was hearing. "T-thank you so much, Lady Ts-Tsunade. I-I-"

"Don't worry about it Megumi. Just accept my generosity and go. That goes for you two Yuki." Tsunade took hold of her sake bottle and small cup and turned towards the view of the village as a silent dismissal. They bowed in respect and walked out of the office.

They walked through the village taking in the fact that this could possibly be their new home. As they reached the village gates they came across a strange sight and Megumi ran towards it. "Naruto!"

He turned towards the sound of his name and grew a big goofy grin as he saw her run to him. "Megumi!" As they came close enough to each other Megumi noticed Naruto's backpack and Jaraiya next to him.

"Hmm? Are you taking on missions already, shouldn't you be resting, Naruto?" She asked with her own goofy grin.

Naruto grew nervous as he scratched the back of his head. "Well about that, you see I'm kinda going training with Pervy-Sage and I won't be back for a while."

Yuki grew a sly grin as he approached Naruto too. "Nice, I get the apartment to myself again. How long are you going to be gone this time?" He asked casually.

"Um I, well I think-"

"We'll be training for close to three years." Jaraiya bluntly stated as he leaned on Naruto's head.

Yuki and Megumi froze as the news sunk in but they both quickly broke out into happy grins. "Wow, talk about see you later. Huh, this place sure is going to be quiet without you." Yuki stated.

Megumi gave Naruto a hug as she smiled happily. "You better get stronger so that we can finally spar for once."

"You got it!" Naruto said with a thumbs up. They exchanged more goodbyes and Yuki and Megumi soon found themselves waving Naruto and Jaraiya off at the village gates.

"Who would have thought that we, of all people, would be here in the Leaf Village like this, saying good-bye to our friends?" Yuki said almost to himself as he saw Naruto disappear on his adventure.

Megumi gave him a smile as she linked her arm with his. "I think it's nice." She started to pull him off in the direction of the training field as she laughed. "Come on, I have a feeling that everyone's going to start getting stronger and I don't want to be left behind."

"Alright, let's go train." They laughed as they raced towards the field, and for a moment they forgot about all their troubles and responsibilities and just focused on having fun.

Elsewhere in a strange location, Sasuke was being lead to his new room by Kabuto Yakushi and Orochimaru himself in his current lair. "Sasuke." He hissed. "You are the chosen one, the one meant for greatness."

"Yeah whatever. When do I get my power?" Sasuke responded off handedly. Orochiamru gave Kabuto a piercing gaze filled with anger at Sasuke's insolence and Kabuto took it as a chance to speak to Sasuke as they walked.

"A word of advice. If you want to live longer then watch what you say, don't let his appearance fool you. Lord Orochimaru can still easily kill you." Sasuke didn't appreciate the advice and gave Kabuto a glare filled with hatred. It served its purpose as Kabuto flinched back in fear. '_That chakra! It's filled with so much negative energy.'_

"I don't need your worthless words." He growled. '_You'll see how strong I become; Itachi, Naruto, and even Megumi. You will all see what I'm really capable of.'_ As he walked along the dark corridors, he couldn't help but feel a small bit of excitement at what the future might hold for him in terms of power as he was surrounded further with the darkness of the area.

**AN:**

**That's it! I'm done with this story, but don't fret. There will be a sequel and, surprise surprise, it's going to be based on Shippuden. This story was primarily adventure mainly because, well they were 12 and I didn't think that should have been the main focus but next story is going to be more exciting in the love department, so stay tuned!**

**Even though it's the last chapter, I would still appreciate lovingly some Reviews **

**-Michelle**


	24. Chapter 24

Bonus Chapter

Megumi laid on her back as she rested from her long morning of training. "1…2…3." She counted her fingers. "It's been three weeks since Naruto left. And already, everyone is getting stronger." She thought back to everything that had happened in that small period of time. Sakura and Ino had respectively left their teams for the time being in order to focus on their training with Lady Tsunade to become medical ninja, the entire Sasuke Retrieval Team had been promoted to Chunnin level, and everyone else was either busy with training or running around doing missions here and there. Yuki and Megumi had been offered by Tsunade the chance to be accepted into the village as official Chunnin ninjas, but they refused. She remembered Yuki's explanation, '_In a way, not belonging to any village is like our last connection to Zabuza and Haku so we kindly refuse your offer.'_

She sighed as she looked up at the clouds flow through the sky lazily. "I wonder if the sky looks this nice, wherever you are, Sasuke." She chuckled to herself as she spoke to no one. Megumi felt so tired as she felt her eyelids become heavier but she couldn't sleep, every time she closed her eyes she would see Sasuke's face covered in those cursed marks. "Maybe if I think about happy thoughts…" She trailed off as she searched through her brain for a happy memory.

'_Hey Megumi.' _She smiled as she heard his familiar voice in her head.

'_Yeah, what is it?'_ She remembered it as the time after the exams, before Itachi had come and ruined it, to her it was a perfect time. They were sitting under the very tree she was now under and the sakura trees were now blossoming and blossoms were falling themselves. "Go ahead spit it out, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked over to her as he played with a kunai knife in his hands. "I was just wondering about something." He took out a bento box and opened it to reveal his favorite snack; sliced tomatoes. "Want some?"

Megumi smiled but pushed away the offered box. "Stop stalling, just tell me what you want to know."

"I'm not stalling." He took a bite of a tomato as he looked up at the clouds slowly moving. "Can a rogue ever go back to a normal life?"

Her eyes widened at the strange question. She thought about it for a bit before finally answering. "I'm not sure, I never really tried before…" She looked down at her hands as she counted the lines on them. "But you know, I never really had much of a normal life before." He looked towards her smiling face and couldn't help but feel silly for asking such a question. "I guess where I am right now, and my life now is what's normal to me."

"So then you don't mind the fact that you might have to leave tomorrow." He asked as sat closer to her.

She didn't seem to notice as she continued to smile. "I guess I would mind a little since I would have to leave you guys, but then again it's really become who I am."

"I see." Sasuke ate another slice of tomato and then held up his chopsticks with another slice at the end of it. "Here, you need to eat more healthily."

Megumi could faintly here the laughter in the back of her mind as she remembered Sasuke chasing her and eventually forcing her to eat the strange food. It was the most out of character she had ever seen Sasuke, but if she thought about it she could see that he was trying to distract her form his strange question. "He knew he was going to leave since then." She rubbed her face as she sat up.

"You know that talking to yourself is the first sign of immortality." She looked up in confusion at the new voice in front of her.

"Gaara, I thought you left the village already with Kankuro and Temari." Megumi stated as Gaara sat beside her.

He looked at her with his normal blank face and smirked as Megumi gulped in nervousness. "You're still afraid of me."

"Can you blame me?" She deadpanned. It wasn't like she wanted to be afraid of him, he just left that impression when they first met.

"I guess you have a point." She tried to relax next to him and couldn't help but like the silky sound of his voice. "I stayed to make sure that the village returned to normal and incase it was in need of assistance."

"That's nice." She said absentmindedly.

"You're still thinking about him."

She looked towards Gaara in shock but slowly smiled as she thought about it. "Yeah, I am still thinking about him."

He looked at Megumi and could see the dark circles starting to form under her eyes. '_She's a bit like Naruto and I. He was her special person and he betrayed her.'_ Gaara stood and offered his hand to Megumi. "Come on. We're going to go eat."

Megumi took his hand and couldn't help the girlish giggle that escaped her as she thought of Gaara being nice. "Where are we eating?"

"Some place Naruto took me. He called it, Ichiraku Ramen."

As they walked towards their lunch destination, Megumi couldn't help but feel as happy as she was before Sasuke left. '_Gaara is really nice in his own quiet way.'_ Maybe she could make it. Maybe she could pretend everything was fine until she saw Sasuke again. Maybe she could finally sleep that night.

She didn't know what life had in store but for now, she would happily blush at the happy fact that Gaara was not scary anymore and he was still holding her hand. Maybe fate finally got tired of playing with her.

**AN:**

**Hello my dear audience! I bet you weren't expecting this. In a way it was a bit of a deleted scene that I just didn't see fitting into the story, but now it does. I kinda left that little SasukexMegumi moment and GaaraxMegumi as a little thing for you to think about. Like a foreshadowing hint I guess. **

**So like normal, please Review. I'm actually happy that the last chapter got some and to answer some questions; I'm going to take a small brake from writing mainly because I will be graduating from High School this month and finals are coming up but fret not I solemnly swear that I shall return.**

**-Michelle**


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